Tuesday, January 15, 2008

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people." - G. K. Chesterton

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Wikipedia on Pangloss:

"Pangloss is a follower of, or as many have argued, a caricature or outright satire of the philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, who in his Theodicy theorized that the world we live in is the best of all possible worlds. Consequently, Pangloss constantly argues that "there is no effect without a cause"—in other words, everything in existence, from the human nose to natural disasters, is meant to suit a specific purpose. Mockingly, Pangloss is said to be a teacher of "metaphysico-theologico-cosmolonigology".

However, this worldview causes Pangloss not only to remain optimistic in the face of incredible tragedy but to justify it. For instance, while Candide, Pangloss and Candide's friend James the Anabaptist are sailing to Lisbon, a storm hits and James is washed overboard. Pangloss stops Candide from leaping into the sea in an attempt to save him, claiming that "the bay of Lisbon had been formed expressly for James to drown in".

As Pangloss himself suffers a series of misfortunes—including a botched execution attempt by the Inquisition and being enslaved on a Turkish galley—he does adopt a more realistic outlook by the end of the novel, saying that "he had always suffered horribly; but having once maintained that everything was for the best; he had continued to maintain it without believing it" (93). This goes to show that Pangloss does not believe his own philosophy, however he maintains it to retain his self-respect as a philosopher. And yet a few pages later he again argues his philosophy to Candide, who lightly rebuffs him."