The Dilemmas Of The World - 1578 Words

The world we live in is filled to the brim with possibility, constantly allowing for a number of upsets and unknowns that plague our being. Amidst all that we cannot know for sure, we always strive for certainty, for a support system that assures us that there is something that we can know without doubt. Without this scrap of certainty, it would be miraculous to make it through the day intact as a person with a complex system of beliefs. All of the unknowns that surround us threaten our knowledge and our beliefs if we don’t know how to approach them. Our sense of being-in-the-world is defined by how we understand what surrounds us—we must either reconcile it according to that which we believe or reconfigure our system of knowledge to allow†¦show more content†¦In regards to Candide and Pangloss, two prevalent characters in Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism, their philosophy requires them to approach the unknown and incomprehensible with unshakeable devotio n to their belief: all is for the best. They interpret the unknown and in such a way that it seems to be evidence to support their philosophy, even if it ought to disrupt their understanding of the world. This indestructible philosophic lens allows Candide and Pangloss, at one point, to determine the death of their friend and benefactor, the Anabaptist, as proof of their convictions. His death in the port of Lisbon lead Pangloss to claim simply that â€Å"Lisbon harbor had been created expressly so that the Anabaptist could drown it† (Voltaire , 15). Pangloss has already decided that any of the horrors that occur in the world are necessarily for the best. The inexplicable tragedies build the frame on which the best of all possible worlds is created and maintained. This kind of philosophy is already broad enough to cover not only what is known and understandable, but also the future and the phenomena of the world—Everything must be good, whether it can be proven or not. In this way, Candide and Pangloss are successful in terms of preserving their intactness as people, but in doing so they deny the event of idea its own character. Nothing, according to their beliefs, can be selfish or malicious in nature