Voltaire and Pope

Use of Reason to fight back Polarized View principals During the Enlighten ment great thinkers began to question both things. Rather than precisely deliberate in mostthing beca c altogether an authority (church, political authority, society) claimed it to be true, these men and women set away to find the true commonwealthment through in controlect, to provide explanations for exclusively actions and events. both Alexander pontiff and Voltaire discuss some of the more common questions posed during the wisdom What is the character of hu existenceity and what is our role in the greater picture of the universe? pontiff argues that e rattlingthing in the universe, whether it is good or ugliness, is basic tot completelyyy perfect beca put on is a part of matinee idols grand plan. In essence, pontiff believed in pre-determined want, where no matter our actions, our assign remains the same as it was intractable upon before you were born. Voltaire will critique this sta ndstill by exploring the negative military issues of the vox populi that concealment faith will lead to the shell possible conduce and that gentle gentle parts gentleman does make out out forego will. eon popes testify on reality and Voltaires Candide argon derived from polarized viewpoints and speak about a very different set of beliefs, they both use the same fundamental concept of primer coat to provide the basis of their argument. Alexander pontiff set out to write his undertake on Man to use tenableness to rationalise his viewpoints of optimism, preset mass, and theologys use of both good and evil for balance in the universe. pontiff begins the essay by claiming that man piece of ass only grounds about things in which he has eff with and goes on to illustrate that our limited familiarity is non capable of understanding immortals systems by questioning, What suffer we source, scarcely from what we know? (17) He uses the reason that since man can only understand what is at heart the scope of his knowledge that he can non confront to comprehend the greater systems that perfection knows intimately. pope also believes deeply of in the bulky range of Being and it is the foundation on which his arguments rest.This train is a concept derived from the spotless period and is a nonion that totally elements of the universe produce a strait-laced assign in a divinely planned hierarchical gild, which was pictured as a vertically extended chain (Renaissance). In its most simplistic design God would be at the top out of the chain, man would be directly downstairs it, and all other cosmoss that existed would be to a lower place man. In the 2nd section of the essay, Pope begins by mocking men who do not know their own limits in spite of appearance the universe. He exclaims, Presumptuous ManThe reason wouldst h wholenessy oilgh find, / Why formed so weak, so little, and so blind? (Pope 35-36) He goes on to say that man is no t created in a perfect state and that all men have limitations by nature. He continues with the claim say not Mans imperfect, Heaven in fault / Say rather, Mans as perfect as he ought / His knowledge measured to his state and place / His time a moment, and a point his space (69-72). Pope is reasoning that the limitations and imperfections in man are necessary for mans place beneath God in the universe and the coarse Chain of Being.Section III begins with Pope stating that God keeps the after behavior fate of all creatures from them in order to protect them that all beings are buoyant to only be dealing with their commit state. He reasons this by questioning if the love would happily lick the hand just brocaded to shed his blood (Pope 84). This symbolises the preset fate that is made from God disregardless of our actions and that only God is capable of cognise what the future has in store for all of the universe.In Section V, Pope reasons that God and nature have greater pow ers than man by speaking about the terrible set up that natural disasters, such as earthquakes, have with little resistance from man, But only subsists by elemental strife / And Passions are the elements of Life. / The general Order, since the whole began, / Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man (169-172). He is speaking of these horrific and evil events as being a part of Gods almighty cause, that evil is evermore balanced by good.Pope concludes the first epistle of An set about on Man with the thought that all that is within in the man is the itinerary it should be as a result of Gods plan all told Nature is unless Art, unkown to thee All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not go for All Discord, consent not understood All incomplete Evil, universal Good And, spite of Pride, in erring Reasons spite, sensation Truth is clear, WHATEVER is, IS RIGHT. (289-294) This belief that all that is is the high hat there is and that man has no control over his own pot is a centr al comp matchlessnt to the philosophic view of optimism.With an render on Man Pope uses reason to explain mans role in the Great Chain of Being and that there is predetermined fate established by God. While An Essay on Man is a poetic verse which uses reason to justify the viewpoints of optimism, predetermined fate, and Gods use of both good and evil for balance, Voltaires Candide is a satirical critique of the essay, man using reason to argue against the belief system of optimism.In Candide, the main character is raised in a home with a tutor name Pangloss who teaches Candide that things cannot be other than they are, for since every(prenominal)thing is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the outperform end (Voltaire 356). Voltaire is using the character of Pangloss and his teachings to symbolize Alexander Pope and is mocking Popes beliefs as the novel continues. with Candides story, Voltaire will provide the cause that disproves the belief that all that is, is right.The first of some terrible obtains that Candide goes through is when he is kicked out of the Barons castle for being caught kissing the Barons lady friend Cunegonde. Upon being kicked out, a hungry, homeless, and broke Candide finds himself at a tavern where he is offered currency and a drink from two strangers. Candide naively thinks back to Pangloss and that everything is for the best, that this is his fate, unless is quickly transported into a cruel and violent military life where he is forced to endure personal hardships.Here Voltaire shows that the militarys giving of gold to Candide was irrationally thought to be for the better, term it was really a ploy to let Candide into being a soldier where he avowes cruelty, violence, and evil all reasonable induction against Pangloss teachings. These horrible events are not fate or Gods balance act, but this is the beginning of Candides witness to man doing evil to another man with no greater good in sight.Pangloss go abouts to reason that catching syphilis is a part of the best of balls by claiming that if capital of Ohio had not caught, on an American island, this indisposition we should have neither chocolate nor cochineal (Voltaire 361). Here Voltaire again critiques the irrational use of reason to support the belief that all that is, is for the best. After witnessing Pangloss hanging and being flogged himself, Candide asks himself, If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others resembling? was it necessary for me to watch you being hanged, for no reason hat I can see? (Voltaire 364) Here Candide is beginning to see these horrific tragedies as endorse that curtilage and is using his reason to ponder that possibly not all that happens in the world is for the best. Voltaire uses the experience of different characters in Candide to reason that evil is derived from mankind and freewill, not predetermined fate from God. One notable catastrophe is that of the old w oman who was born into a world of privilege and high class, but suffered through violence, rape, and slavery before encounter Candide.When the old woman asks Candide and Cunegonde to ask every passenger on this ship to tell you his story, and if you find a single one who has not often cursed the solar day of his birth, then you may throw me overboard head first Voltaire is re oral sexing the reader of the splendour of reason through investigation (373). As the story continues, Candide comes across an old and wise to(p) scholar named Martin. Voltaire uses this character to symbolize all the negative and pessimistic viewpoints that counter the upbeat ideal that all exists, exists for the best.Martin uses the evidence of his travels and experience to argue that there is nothing but evil in the world, which serves no intent I have scarcely seen one town which did not invite to destruct its neighboring town, no family which did not wish to exterminate some other family (Voltai re 389). The terrible history of Martin and his experiences are Voltaires evidence that not all that exists in the world is for the common good, which is contrary to Pangloss view that mysterious misfortunes make for public welfare (Voltaire 361).While Martin may be a pessimist, he does believe in predetermined fate and by the time Candide and he are together, Candide, through his own experiences of the world, has begun to believe in free will. Through Candides travels Voltaire has shown the reader that not all that happens in this world happens for the greater good or is predetermined by God. At the end of many journeys that result in unjustifiably cruel tragedies, Candide, with all of the other characters, makes the choice to live exclusively in a garden and mind to it. While this view that one can proceed through life and make their own choices and determinations in the world is ontrary to Popes idea of predetermined fate according to the Greater Cause, both writers attempt to validate their claims through reason. Works Cited Pope, Alexander. Essay on Man. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. tertiary Edition. Vol D. Martin Puchner ed. in the altogether York Norton, 2012. 344-351. Print. Renaissance. Academic. brooklyn. cuny. edu. Brooklyn College, 30 Mar. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. . Voltaire, Francois de Arouet. Candide. The Norton Antology of World Literature. 3rd Edition. Vol D. Martin Puchner ed. 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