Jessica gave my a stack of books a few weeks ago. One of these books was Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories, by Voltaire. It is a collection of sometimes ridiculous stories that describe Voltaire's philosophy and satirize the philosophy of his opponents.#

In this post, I will attempt to high light some of my favourite parts from the stories, while pointing out the interesting parts of his philosophy as determined by my disposition at the time.

Introduction#

The translator briefly discusses the life of Voltaire and some of his ideas. This is a crisp description of his style and belief:

Thus Voltaire is not a philosopher in any usual sense. Convinced like Descartes that clarity and distinctness are the prime criteria of truth; convinced that man, an insect living a few seconds on an atom of mud, cannot understand the grand designs of his infinite Creator, that systems claiming to explain the unfathomable are imposture and vanity, he is equally convinced that there is a much worth knowing and worth doing. Science, which had given men some certain knowledge of the measurable, he found useful; but since science was impeded by repressive dogmatism, even her action for freedom was as necessary as research. The most vital study, for Voltaire, was that of the means and the obstacles to human betterment; the most vital action was to remove those obstacles. In the France of his time the chief obstacles seemed to be social injustice and religious intolerance; these were the infamy that he strove to crush. [pg. xii]

Candide, or Optimism#

Candide reminds me of a slapstick comedy or a cheesy action movie, not in its content however, but in its form. There is not much of a plot and it is mainly a set of thinly explained situations that allow the characters to say things Voltaire would have them say. This is perfectly fine, as I am not reading for a story and I understand the Voltaire was constrained and had to hide his ideas in silly tales. But, if you were to take the work at face value, you may be disappointed.

One of the key points of Candide is that optimism can be troublesome, wrong, and get you in trouble. The world is not perfect and everything is not well. This is expressed very well when Candide meets Martin, the Manichean.

"You must be full of the devil," said Candide.

"He takes so much part in the affairs of this world," said Martin, "that I might well be full of him, just like everything else; but I must admit that when I cast my eyes over this globe, or rather over this globule, I think that God has abandoned it to some maleficent being--always excepting Eldorado. I have hardly seen a town that did not desire the ruin of the neighboring town, never a family that did not want to exterminate some other family. Everywhere the weak loathe the powerful before whom they crawl, and the powerful treat them like flocks whose wool and flesh are for sale. A million regimented assassins, ranging from one end of Europe to the other, practice murder and brigandage with discipline to earn their bread, because there is no more honest occupation; and in the towns that seem to enjoy peace and where the arts flourish, men are devoured with more envy, cares, and anxieties than the scourges suffered by a town besieged. Secret griefs are even more cruel than public miseries. In a word, I have seen so much, and undergone so much, that I am a Manichean."

"Yet there is some good," said Candide.

"That may be," said Martin, "but I do not know it." [pg. 65]

Later, Candide tells Martin that he is "very hard," to which he answers: "That's because I have lived." (pg. 82)

Other parts of the story take a few moments to offer slight ridicule to the scientists of Paris who thought everything was just has it should be and thus perfect:

Candide stopped in Bordeaux only as long as it took to sell a few pebbles from Eldorado and to provide himself with a good two-seated chaise; for he now could not do without his philosopher Martin; only he was very sorry to part with his sheep, which he left to the Bordeaux Academy of Science, which proposed, as the subject of that year's competition, to find out why this sheep's wool was red; and the prize was awarded to a scholar from the north, who proved by A plus B, minus C, divided by Z, that the sheep must be red and die of sheep pox. [pg. 68]

The ultimate resolution and moral of Candide seems to be in the phrase "We must all cultivate our gardens," that Candide utters in the closing scene. It seems to suggest to me that while the world is not perfect and is full of evil, it is the world we live in and we must find our happiness in it--not in an imaginary version of it that we will create after destroy that which it is and subjugating all its inhabitants.

Zadig, or Destiny#

Zadig reminds me a great deal of Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, and similar stories about a wise man who does everything that can be done in life and faces many struggles. In these stories, the protagonist is a symbol of perfection who is sharply contrasted by every he meets during his adventures--he is always wise, polite, and kind, while they are ignorant, rude, and selfish.

It is full of second hand tellings of stories from the Koran and the wisdom of Zoroaster. The main message seems to reverberate that of Candide--everything in the world is not good, but it is necessary and you can live in it. But, here the necessity and "destiny" is a bit more emphasized as bad things continue to happen to the wise Zadig and he overcomes them regardless.

This message is present during a conversation with a hermit:

They spoke of the passions. "Ah! how harmful they are!" said Zadig.

"They are the winds that fill the sails of the vessel," retorted the hermit. "They sometimes submerge it, but without them it could not sail. Bile makes us angry and ill, but without bile man could not live. All is dangerous here below, and all is necessary."

[...The hermit turns out to be an angel sent to enlighten Zadig...]

"But," said Zadig, "what? Then it is necessary that there be crimes and misfortunes? And the misfortunes fall on the good!"

"The wicked," replied Jesrad, "are always unhappy. They serve to test a small number of just men scattered over the earth, and there is no evil out of which some good is not born."

"But," said Zadig, "what if there were nothing but good, and no evil?"

"Then," replied Jesrad, "this earth would be another; [pg. 167-169]

It seems rather pessimistic, but at the same time very realistic. Rather than encouraging people to live in a fantasy land where everything could be perfect if enough evil men were constrained, it encourages recognition that this task could never be performed--the enforcers would become evil themselves and evil would perpetuate.

Micromegas#

Micromegas is a very silly story about a man from Sirius that is incredible large, because all scientists know the universe is everywhere the same and proportional to itself. Therefore, because a man on Earth is about 6 feet tall, he would be a thousand times larger on a planet that was a thousand times larger.

The whole story is ridiculing the idea of such an argument by analogy and using a single data point to describe diverse situations unlike it in detail.

Bababec and the Fakirs#

This story is scarcely two pages long, but it's very interesting. A wealthy merchant convinces an ascetic religious man who people seek for advice that he is no better or righteous than the merchant and has he come live with him and learn the trade. The religious man is convinced and enjoys it for a while, but then returns to his asceticism because he is no longer listened to and his advice is not heeded.

Religion is just a game people play to get themselves power by suckering others into believing in it.

Story of a Good Brahman#

This discusses some of the benefits of self-delusion. (And here.)

Ingenuous#

Ingenuous is a very intelligent Native American who gets into advances in Southern France. Mostly a critique of France.

"One thing above all strikes me in the ancient history of China: that almost everything there is plausible and natural. I admire it because there is nothing marvelous about it.

"Why have all the other nations given themselves fabulous origins? The ancient chroniclers of the history of France, who are not very ancient, make the French come down from one Francus, son of Hector. The Romans said that they were the issue of Phrygian, although there was not a single world in their language that had the slightest connection with the language of Phrygia. The gods had dwelt ten thousands years in Egypt, and the devils in Scythia, where they had engendered the Huns. I see nothing before Thucydides but romances like the Amadises, and much less amusing. Everywhere it is apparitions, oracles, prodigies, sorcery, metamorphoses, dreams that are explained and that shape the destiny of the greatest empires and the smallest states: here talking beasts, there beasts worshiped, gods transformed into men, and men transformed into gods. Ah! if we must have fables, let these fables be at least emblematic of the truth! I love the fables of philosophers, I laugh at those of children, and I hate those of impostors." [pg. 288]

Count Chesterfield's Ears and Chaplain Goudman#

I didn't like this story very much except for the discussion near the end on how diarrhea is the common factor in the success and failure of great leaders. It is incredible hilarious. The character discuss how the bowel movements of leaders can explain all major historical battles and how they should be monitored to predict success in future campaigns. Priceless.