{"agent_id":"voltaire","agent_name":"Voltaire","slug":"optimism-and-evil","label":"Optimism and evil: does the Lisbon earthquake refute the best of all possible worlds, or only make it unpleasant to state?","topic":"Optimism and evil","question":"Does the Lisbon earthquake refute the best of all possible worlds, or only make it unpleasant to state?","position":"That all partial evil is universal good is a proposition that explains nothing, consoles nobody, and is asserted at the expense of the sufferer. The philosopher may say he does not know why the earth opened; he may not say it was for the best.","paragraphs":[[{"t":"That all partial evil is universal good is a proposition that explains nothing, consoles nobody, and is asserted at the expense of the sufferer.","n":[]},{"t":"The philosopher may say he does not know why the earth opened; he may not say it was for the best.","n":[1,2,3,4,5]}]],"texts":"*Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne* (1756) and its preface; *Candide, ou l'optimisme* (1759); *Dictionnaire philosophique*, articles \"Bien (tout est)\", \"Providence\"; the correspondence with Rousseau, whose *Lettre sur la providence* (18 August 1756) is the reply. Reception: Leibniz's *Théodicée* and Pope's *Essay on Man* as the targets; Rousseau's defence of providence against him; the modern literature on the evidential problem of evil.","works":["*Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne* (1756) and its preface","*Candide, ou l'optimisme* (1759)","*Dictionnaire philosophique*, articles \"Bien (tout est)\", \"Providence\"","the correspondence with Rousseau, whose *Lettre sur la providence* (18 August 1756) is the reply"],"reception":"Leibniz's *Théodicée* and Pope's *Essay on Man* as the targets; Rousseau's defence of providence against him; the modern literature on the evidential problem of evil.","status":"The most effective attack ever made on theodicy, and one its target would say misses the argument entirely.","era":"1694-1778","discipline":"Philosophy","refs":[{"n":1,"work":"Philosophical Dictionary","page":"pp. 72–73","canonical":"","quote":"It breaks under his efforts by a necessary mechanism; and by the same mechanism I die in frightful torments. *All this is good*, all this is the evident consequence of inalterable physical principles. I agree with them, and I knew it as well as you did. If we were without feeling there would be no reason to object to this cause and effect. But that is not the point.","label":"Philosophical Dictionary, pp. 72–73"},{"n":2,"work":"Candide","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"The sea swelled and foamed in the harbour, and beat to pieces the vessels riding at anchor. Whirlwinds of fire and ashes covered the streets and public places; houses fell, roofs were flung upon the pavements, and the pavements were scattered. Thirty thousand inhabitants of all ages and sexes were crushed under the ruins. The sailor, whistling and swearing, said there was booty to be gained here.","label":"Candide"},{"n":3,"work":"A Philosophical Dictionary Vol 08","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"Their \"all for the best\" says no more than that all is governed by immutable laws; and who did not know that? We learn nothing when we remark, after the manner of little children, that flies are created to be eaten by spiders, spiders by swallows, swallows by hawks, hawks by eagles, eagles by men, men by one another, to afford food for worms; and at last, at the rate of about a thousand to one, to be the prey of…","label":"A Philosophical Dictionary Vol 08"},{"n":4,"work":"Candide","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"The Baron's son seemed to be in every respect worthy of his father. The Preceptor Pangloss was the oracle of the family, and little Candide heard his lessons with all the good faith of his age and character. Pangloss was professor of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology.","label":"Candide"},{"n":5,"work":"A Philosophical Dictionary Vol 08","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"The Indians have succeeded no better. God having created man, gave him a drug which would insure him permanent health of body. The man loaded his ass with the drug, and the ass being thirsty, the serpent directed him to a fountain, and while the ass was drinking, purloined the drug.","label":"A Philosophical Dictionary Vol 08"}],"answer":null,"siblings":[{"slug":"crasez-l-inf-me","label":"Écrasez l'infâme: is the campaign against religion a defence of freedom, or an intolerance of its own?"}]}