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The philosopher Gottfried Leibniz argued that a perfectly good God must have made the best of all possible worlds, suffering included. Voltaire's Candide (1759) tests this optimism against war, an earthquake and ruin, as the tutor Pangloss keeps insisting all is for the best. The satire asks what such comfort is worth to those who suffer.

Gottfried Leibniz / Voltaire

Religion & BeliefPhilosophyLiterature

The story behind the card

Leibniz set out the argument in his Theodicy of 1710. The word, which he coined, means a defence of God's justice in the face of evil. He reasoned that an all-knowing, all-good God must have compared every possible world and created the best one, even though it still contains some suffering. After the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 killed tens of thousands, Voltaire attacked the idea, first in a poem and then in Candide. Pangloss, the tutor who repeats Leibniz's optimism after every catastrophe, gave English the word 'Panglossian', for someone who insists all is well whatever the evidence.

Türkçe oku
Filozof Gottfried Leibniz'e göre sonsuz iyi olan Tanrı, içinde acı bulunsa bile mümkün dünyaların en iyisini yaratmış olmalıydı. Voltaire'in Candide'i (1759) bu iyimserliği savaşla, depremle ve yıkımla sınar; öğretmen Pangloss ise başlarına ne gelirse gelsin her şeyin iyilik için olduğunu söyleyip durur. Hiciv, bu tesellinin acı çekenlere ne kazandırdığını sorar.

Leibniz bu görüşü 1710'da yayımlanan Teodise'de ortaya koydu. Kendi türettiği bu sözcük, kötülük karşısında Tanrı'nın adaletini savunmak anlamına gelir. Ona göre her şeyi bilen ve sonsuz iyi olan Tanrı, bütün olası dünyaları karşılaştırmış ve içinde biraz acı bulunsa da en iyisini yaratmıştı. 1755'te on binlerce kişinin ölümüne yol açan Lizbon depreminden sonra Voltaire bu düşünceye önce bir şiirle, ardından Candide ile saldırdı. Her felaketten sonra Leibniz'in iyimserliğini tekrarlayan öğretmen Pangloss, İngilizceye “Panglossian” sözcüğünü kazandırdı: Kanıtlar ne derse desin her şeyin yolunda olduğunda ısrar eden kişi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Candide
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