Monday, February 22, 2010
Guest Blogger - Maddy F.
One thing that I got out of Candide is that you get the most out of life when you stop trying to philosophize it so much and instead just live. I found this kind of ironic since Voltaire himself was a well known philosopher. Throughout the novel, Voltaire strongly satirizes Leibnitz’s philosophy on optimism (Leibnitz was a popular German philosopher, an optimist, and one who deemed that the world they were living in was “the best of all possible worlds”). Clearly, Leibnitz is portrayed through the character Pangloss and his ridiculous ideas... even after all these terrible things happen –earthquakes, war, rape, death- Pangloss still clings to his theory that everything is for the best. Even when James/Jacques is thrown into the sea and then drowns; Pangloss still declares that it was all supposed to happen like this, and that the sea was made in order for James, the one person that Pangloss owes his survival to, to drown in. We’ve all read the book, hopefully, and we know about all the misfortunes it entails and how Pangloss responds to them. To the end, Pangloss clings to this theory that they live in “the best of all possible worlds”. However, in chapter XXX, the group goes to see a dervish, “the best philosopher in Turkey” (Voltaire 118). When they ask the dervish the reason for good and evil in the world they live in, he tells them to keep quiet saying it is none of their business. To me, this came across as even if you do philosophize about life and have great theories and all…will that change anything? Voltaire ends Candide with, “we must cultivate our garden” (Voltaire 120). This could be taken a number of ways, but my thoughts on these last words were that life is best lived when one uses their own skills and lives life instead of worrying/thinking about it so much. I could be way off on this though, what are your thoughts?
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It really is interesting how the philosophy Voltaire recommends is an abandonment of philosophy; his intangible consideration is to stop considering intangible things. When one tends to a garden, they put forth real work, not imagined musings, and get real results. In this way, Voltaire emphasizes that the true road to happiness is to focus on the reality of the world, not the imagined -- a very bold new enlightenment idea.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how Voltaire himself is a philosopher, yet Candide puts forth to not philosophize. This makes me wonder about other purpose to Candide, because it seems backwards to write a book about not philosophizing when he is a philosopher, thoughts?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the words "we must cultivate our garden" I took it in the more religious sense. Many religions believe that people can better themselves by reflecting on their own morals and making a change in their lives. I took the phrase to mean that everyone starts with certain traits, but they aren't stuck in that position because people can nourish different traits to change their position in life.
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