And well, my dear Pangloss - said Candide - when you were hanged, when you were cut from top to bottom, when you were whipped and when you were taken to the galleys, did you still think that everything was going for the best? -I have always been of this opinion - said Pangloss - because, after all, I am a philosopher: it is not necessary for me to contradict myself, given that Leibniz cannot have been wrong and that the pre-established harmony is, precisely with the full and the subtle matter, the most beautiful thing in the world.” (ch. XXVIII, p. 290)

“Et bien, mon cher Pangloss, lui dit Candide, quand vous avez été pendu, disséqué, roué de coups, et que vous avez ramé aux galères, avez-vous toujours pensé que tout allait pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes? – Je suis toujours de mon premier sentiment, répondit Pangloss; car enfin je suis philosophe, il ne me convient pas de me dédire, Leibnitz ne pouvant pas avoir tort, et l’harmonie préétablie étant d’ailleurs la plus belle chose du monde, aussi bien que le plein et la matière subtile” (cap. XXVIII, p.141)

 

Banished from the best of possible worlds, Candide witnesses a succession of calamities: how can humanity be so evil? When everything has been burned, destroyed, razed, when nothing remains of the everyday, beloved and familiar world, can we still have any reason to be optimistic and happy? Maybe yes. This is what Candide, literature's most famous improvisational naive hero, is up to. As if he has known his reader forever, he wants to embark with him on an instructive and painful journey through the uncertain fields of life. Irony, humor and entertainment do not overshadow a deep reflection on destiny and freedom.

 

What does Candide share with a scientist like me? A skepticism before the philosophical optimism of the time? A critical view of eternal and unquestionable dogmas and principles? Or simply the discovery of how reality works through your own experience? Probably a mix of everything. (p.15)

“"Following the footsteps of Candide, let's cultivate our garden...”, prologue.
Cristina Pujades
Professor at the Department of Experimental Sciences and Health at Pompeu Fabra University

 

Akira Kurosawa once said that if he had to define the common theme of all his films, it could be summed up in this question: "why are men not able to be happy together?". Two centuries before the filmmaker's statement, Voltaire's Candide made a dizzying realization of this impossibility. (p. 301)

“The four hundred kicks”, epilogue
Jordi Balló
Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Communication at Pompeu Fabra University

Xavier Pérez
Professor of Audiovisual Communication at Pompeu Fabra University

 

With the publication of Candid, or Optimism, the UPF organized a series of activities that invited reflection on the themes developed in the argument: