Candide: Voltaire against Leibniz's optimism? François-Marie Arouet, better known by the pseudonym Voltaire, was one of the main philosophers of the Enlightenment. It is considered the epitome of the 18th century, called le siècle de Voltaire. His philosophical novel or count, Candide, was published in 1759 and remains one of his best-known and most widely read works, particularly to the English reader. In part of his Columbia thesis "Voltaire and Leibniz," Richard A. Brooks read Candide as an autobiographical account of Voltaire's lifelong indecision and struggle to arrive at a solution to the problem of evil: “Candide does not it was simply an intellectual or philosophical exercise; it is a work, in a certain sense, autobiographical” (99). The problem of evil was a major concern of Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire. Scholars generally agree that Voltaire, in most of his works, was in conversation with the pre-Enlightenment German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Some of them read Voltaire's works as a denunciation of Leibniz as a charlatan. Others, looking specifically at Candide, suggest that Voltaire is not refuting Leibniz's philosophy, per se, but his popular misrepresentations. Others say that whether Voltaire aimed to criticize Leibniz or to popularize his thoughts, he failed in his undertaking. However, a careful reading of the text of Candide itself, particularly chapters three and six, provides concrete evidence for reading this text as a direct and virulent attack on Leibnizian optimism, the main argument of which is best summarized by the phrase “the best of all possible worlds” (Leibniz 229). Optimism is linked to the problems of evil, fr...... middle of paper ......int.Kivy, Peter. “Voltaire, Hume and the problem of evil”. Philosophy and literature. 3.2 (1979): 211-224. Print.Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Theodicy: Essays on the goodness of God, the freedom of man and the origin of evil. La Salle, Ill: Open Court, 1985. Gutenberg.org. Project Gutenberg, 2005. Web. 7 February 2010. Mason, Haydn Trevor. Candide: optimism demolished. Twayne's masterpiece studies, no. 104. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Riley, Patrick. "The tolerant skepticism of Voltaire and Diderot: against Leibnizian optimism and wise charity". Early modern skepticism and the origins of tolerance. Ed. Alan Levine. Lanham: Lexington Books, 1999. 249-270. Print.Wilson, Catherine. “The reception of Leibniz in the eighteenth century”. The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz. Ed. Nicola Jolley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 442-474. Press.