Voltaire’s Candide and the Philosophy of Optimism – A Philosophical Perspective
When Voltaire published Candide, ou l’Optimisme in 1759, Europe was living through an era of intense intellectual confidence. The Enlightenment promised reason, progress, and human perfectibility. Philosophers debated systems that could explain the world in rational, harmonious terms. Among the most influential was the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who famously argued that this is […]












