• Rationalism  reason is authority
• Cosmology  a new perspective on man’s place and the Earth’s place in the universe
• Secularism  applying scientific methods to religious and philosophical matters
• Scientific Method  mathematical analysis and inductive reasoning

• Utilitarinism  the greatest good for the most people
• Tolerance  accepting others’ beliefs
• Optimism and Confidence  man is good and progressing
• Freedom  liberty in thought, expression, and man

• Education of the masses  the right of all to be educated
• Legal reforms  just laws & punishment
• Constitutionalism  written documents listing citizens and their rights
• Cosmopolitanism  single community of people based on shared morality

• Wrote The Elements of Law, Natural and Political &The
Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance
• Beliefs:
– Natural state
– Individual rights
– All men are equal
– Society/state difference
– All legitimate political power must be "representative"
– Liberal interpretation of law leaves people free to do whatever they wish
– People act solely based on self-interest

• Humans should save their own skin in difficult situations.
– Candide kills Cunégonde’s brother
– Most of the characters in Candide act with their own self-interest in mind
• Living in the natural state
– The Biglugs and the Oreillons

• Wrote An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding
• Beliefs:
– Wants humans to search for the truth with reason
– God created man; we are his property
– Need life, liberty, health, and property
– State of nature: love, awareness, and respect
• War violates
– Always victim & aggressor in war
– Religious toleration

• Is this the best of all possible worlds?
– Candide listens to Pangloss
– Listens to Martin & questions philosophy
• Everything happens for a reason
– Even horrible things (would never have found
Pangloss if he hadn’t gone through the Bulgars & been punished by the orator from Ch.3)
• Religious toleration in Eldorado
• Auto-da-fée

• Wrote his Discourse on the Sciences and Arts
• Helped with Diderot’s Encyclopedié
• Beliefs:
– State of nature is brutish, without law or morality
– Opposed private property
– Emphasized learning by experience

• Many brutish situations occur in Candide
• Candide’s experiences lead him to finally dismiss his mentor’s philosophy

• Wrote Meditations on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas &
Discourse on Metaphysics
• Beliefs:
– “God acts for the best” (The Principle of the Best)
– “There is no cause without an effect” (The Principle of Sufficient
Reason)
– “Nothing takes place suddenly…nature never makes leaps” (The
Principle of Continuity)
– If two things share all characteristics, they are identical and are the same (The Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles)
"Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Metaphysics
Research Lab, Stanford University, 22
Dec. 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz/>.

• The Principle of the Best
– Pangloss’s “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”
• The Principle of Sufficient Reason
– Pangloss’s ideals
– ex: Cunégonde observes Pangloss and Paquette kissing, which causes her to flirt with Candide  cause and effect
• The Principle of Continuity
– Opposite of this is portrayed in Candide
– All the random events that occur in Candide
• The earthquake, Pangloss suddenly being found alive

• Translated Ephraim Chambers’ The Universal Dictionary of
Arts and Sciences into French with his Encyclopedié
• Beliefs:
– Did not believe in an emphasis of mathematics in philosophies
– Looked down upon and condemned the Church and Christianity
(Separation of Church & State)
– Warned against blind optimism

• Optimism is shown as foolish in Candide
– Candide is optimistic about everything, no matter what
• The Church is often portrayed as the enemy in Candide:
– The corrupt abbée
– The monk (with Paquette)
– The Grand Inquisitor
– The Pope
• Old woman is the child of

• Helped with Diderot’s Encyclopedié
• Wrote Letters Concerning the English Nation & Treatise on Tolerance
• Beliefs:
– freedom of religion
– freedom of trade
– separation of church and state
– considered himself a deist
– toleration of other ethnicities
– distrusted democracy, which he saw as spreading the idiocy of the masses

• Whereas Pangloss subscribes to a philosophy of extreme optimism, Martin is an extreme pessimist.
• Martin goes against everything Candide learned from
Pangloss, even the statement that “there is some good in the world.”
• Martin has learned more from experience than Candide, who blindly trusts Pangloss for the better part of the book.
• Martin’s pessimistic instincts are not always correct.

• Martin has a negative outlook on life, so he contrasts with
Leibniz’s philosophy (everything is for the best)
• He stands in opposition to the Church, which puts him in line with Diderot
• He agrees with Rousseau, in the belief that all of humanity is brutish
• Martin agrees with Hobbes- everybody acts for his own interests and benefit

• Bertram, Christopher. "Jean Jacques Rousseau (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)."
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 27 Sept.
2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/>.
• Brians, Paul. "The Enlightenment." Home Page of Paul Brians. Washington State University,
11 Mar. 1998. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html>.
• "Diderot, Denis." Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Diderot#Thought_and_works>.
• "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 22 Dec. 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz/>.
• Lloyd, Sharon A., and Susanne Sreehar. "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research
Center, Stanford University, 12 Feb. 2002. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/>.

• "Philosophical Connections: Diderot." PhiloSophos: Advice and Resources for Philosophy Students. Web. 04
Dec. 2011. <http://www.philosophos.com/philosophical_connections/profile_070.html>.
• Pojer, Susan M. "The Enlightenment." Powerpoint Palooza. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.pptpalooza.net/>.
• Shank, J. B. "Voltaire (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/>.
• Sheridan, Patricia. "Locke's Moral Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 04 Dec.
2011. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-moral/>.
• Tuckness, Alex. "Locke's Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford Encylopedia, 9 Nov. 2005. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/>.
• Uzgalis, William. "John Locke (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2 Sept. 2001. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/>.