On Votaire’s Candide

Voltaire’s Candide is a driving commentary on the human condition — its natural state of frailty, the result of which is compilation of brittle social, political and personal frameworks. The author, whose comment that “disbelief is the basis of wisdom” (Weber’s lecture), blemishes the dominating ideal of the 18th Century – optimism, defying it in the most tragic of forms – human suffering. Voltaire’s witticisms, irony and sarcasm reverse the prevailing thought of his day, …

…all driven by a desire to establish a better world. Why? Perhaps, it is because we constantly feel the need to achieve for the “better”, and “better” is unattainable, as it has no limits. Yet giving up hope and simply surrendering to the idea that “all is for the best” would leave us questioning: Then why bother with anything? We need to cultivate our “best” – that’s what the Enlightenment thinkers presented in their writings.