[Kahlib on...] Voltaire's Candide

I just recently started and finished Voltaire's Candide, or Optimism. It was my first novel by the (in)famous Voltaire, and I read it with reserved expectations. I was thoroughly amused, and actually impressed. The story follows Candide and his revolving door of colorful companions in the pursuit of his love, Miss Cunégonde. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, indeed did. This happens as Candide holds onto his optimism taught by his beloved Pangloss, his favored philosopher. The book moved quickly and almost whimsically, while discussing the worst of human nature and the most vile of human interactions. It is the black comedy of an older time.

Pangloss had the idea that this world was the best of all possible worlds. My favorite retort comes from Candide himself, "If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?"

I thought of Vonnegut while reading it, not only in the philosophy of determinism (soft or hard, never got to ask him), but almost in tone. I laughed through most of the book, but at times I felt guilty for laughing. This was probably the intent. The satirical humor gave way to the seriousness of blind optimism, and made you think of all the ways this world, or that one, could be better. The seriousness of the book crept upon me, or slapped me in the face; either way, I was surprised.

Pangloss today would probably be found narrating for The Secret, a self-help movement asking people to simply think about what they want. This sort of pseudo-scientific optimism is rather dangerous; it encourages a lazy world view. One that shirks responsibility for cosmological faith, and hard work for wishful thinking.

Transcendental justice starts to appear; karma and sin are ways to balance the world while still having free will. Pangloss pokes at the idea that humankind's free will is what causes all of the suffering in the world. It is hard to rectify the two ideas- that free will and a "perfect" world are not mutually exclusive. Voltaire does well in addressing this.

I think the main itch I have about all this is: the best possible world can't be any better. Also, this excuses everything unjust and vile as being the best we can get. This world- our world, can only be better with our will, and let's leave the abstract philosophies out of this one- "We must cultivate our garden."