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Did Voltaire misunderstand Leibniz, as shown in 'Candide?

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Either he didn't or he deliberately oversimplified the "best of all possible worlds" argument to make a point. I think it's the latter. There are good criticisms of Lebniz' Optimism out there, which address its logic directly. read more

Voltaire certainly did not misunderstand Leibniz’s philosophy. If anything, Candide was a philosophical argument made against Leibniz. Voltaire was naturally inclined, I believe, to dislike Leibniz’s philosophy and metaphysics, for it was religious and very intertwined with God. read more

Leibniz's "all is well," which Voltaire puts into the mouth of Pangloss, becomes an ironic mockery which is possible only for those who willfully refuse to consider the evidence of their senses. Voltaire did not come to this viewpoint easily. He had praise for Leibniz as early as early as 1733 and as late as 1756. read more

But fundamentally Voltaire was suspicious of all attempts at systematic philosophy. In 1737, he wrote to Frederick the Great: "All metaphysics contain two things: all that intelligent men know; second, that which they will never know." Certain views he did share with Leibnitz. read more

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