history essay question

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History 102: Optional Special Assignment on Voltaire’s Candide

Spring 2020

Dr. Rzadkiewicz and Ms. Shuherk

Note for future use: Voltaire’s Candide can be considered a primary source for studying about

the Enlightenment—for example, its fictional literature—as well as Voltaire’s biography.

It could also be used as a secondary source, if, for example again, your focus is, say, 19th-century

European literature, and you cite Candide to contrast Romantic with Enlightenment fiction or

thought.

The following assignment is optional, meaning that you don’t have to do it. But some of you

may want to do it for extra points toward your final grade in the course.

Description of the Assignment, which is worth thirty points (3 points for each concept and 3

points for the bonus):

The following is a list of the major general ideas, ideals, and values of the Enlightenment

found in Voltaire’s Candide, published in 1759. They are concepts as the Enlightenment

philosophes understood them.

1. Freedom: especially freedom of thought, necessary for autonomy (“freedom from external

control or influence; independence”), as Kant indicated in his definition of Enlightenment;

2. Humanism: a concern for humanity, what is uniquely human, and for solving human

problems;

3. Cosmopolitanism: familiarity with different cultures obtained through travel;

4. Toleration; the practice of tolerating people who differ from you in their opinions, practices,

religions, etc.

5. Secularism: worldliness; removing religion from explanations about how the world or aspects

of it work;

6. Pagan self-reliance: relying on yourself to solve problems, instead of praying to your god or

the gods to help you;

7. Empiricism: strictly speaking, “the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-

experience”; but it can also mean, as Voltaire used it, learning from experience;

8. For cultural relativism: ‘the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be

understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of

another”; in other words, it means being non-judgmental when one encounters people who

display different practices or beliefs than those accepted as the norm in your culture; that is, you

try to understand people who are different in terms of their culture, not yours. As such, it is the

opposite of ethnocentrism, which constitutes being judgmental, as one evaluates “other cultures

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according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture,” This

can be a toughie, so here’s a clue from Candide: monkeys, and the difference between how

Candide and Cacambo react when they see them.

9. Realism: “the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal

with it accordingly.” Let’s see. Candide is subtitled Optimism, a stance that is represented by

Pangloss; Martin, another character, is a pessimist in his outlook, the complete opposite of

Pangloss. Which three characters represent realism?

Bonus: What is the meaning of the famous last line of Candide? “’All that is very well,’

answered Candide, ‘but let us cultivate our garden.’” What does Voltaire mean? Provide a brief

explanation.

Your assignment is to find a scene or a theme in Candide that illustrates concepts one through

nine and explain briefly how it does. Once again, three points will be given for each correct

answer and explanation. The bonus is also worth three points.

I am opening a forum so that you may discuss the particulars of the assignment with each other

before writing out your answers. But if you have read Candide, completing this assignment

should be a breeze.

The assignment is due by noon on April 18.