Candide Cultural Context! by Rashanda Williams https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l 1. 18th century reception of Candide 2. Gotfried Wilhelm Leibniz (optimism) 3. Enlightenment (religion vs. rationalism, science) 4. Buildungsroman, episodic novel, picaresque novel, dystopian novel 5. Voltaire (bio, views of religion, deism and empiricism), parody, satire 6. Lisbon Earthquake (tsunami, fire) of 1755 (including impact on science, philosophy and religion) en-us 2019-02-19 16:12:20 UTC 2023-05-24 21:34:22 UTC hello@padlet.com 3.Enlightenment https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332784356 Abi and Whit

The enlightenment was the European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries concerning the ideas of God, reason, nature, and humanity. As it spread to the West, these ideas led to revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The enlightenment celebrated reason and the pursuit of knowledge or rational humanity, its goal being knowledge, freedom, and happiness.

rationalism vs religion

Mary Wollstonecraft - the original feminist, argued that women's rights was a rational philosophy in her book and elsewhere
Thomas Hobbes - the first person with the political thought that translates into what is now considered not be liberal
Thomas Jefferson - wanted to separate government from the church
Francis Bacon - created scientific method
Martin Luther - pioneer of Christian progressive thinking (pointed out discrepancies in the Catholic Church)

sources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment]]> 2019-02-19 16:41:25 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332784356 5. Voltaire https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332785750 Dylan & Stephan
Bio:
-born in Paris, youngest of 5 children, born into the lowest rank of the French nobility
- 2 of his older brothers died in infancy, grew up with 1 brother and 1 sister but 9 and 7 years older
- taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric by Jesuits at the College Louis-le-Grand
- strongly pushed to be a lawyer like his father, but was interested in writing
- imprisoned twice and temporarily exiled to England
- debut play was shown January 1717 Oedipus and the Regent and King George I of Great Britain presented him with medals of appreciation
- mainly argued for religious tolerance and freedom of thought
- campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchial authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects people's right


Philosophies: believed that in the ideals of a free liberal society, along with freedom of religion and commerce, and he is a deist, and was open to religion even though he has been very critical of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Voltaire was a vegetarian and was an advocate of animal rights. Voltaire praised Hinduism, believing that Hindu's are " "[a] peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of defending themselves."

Deism: 
belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.

Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
The novel Candide is a Satire written by Voltaire using parody, hyperbole, euphemism, understatement, sarcasm and other literary devices to create the satire. Voltaire satirizes a wide variety of subjects, from certain philosophies to human nature itself.

Empiricism: the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Voltaire influenced by British Empiricism and strongly attacked rationalism which is the opposite of Empiricism.

Parody: an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. Voltaire used Parodies a lot in the novel Candide

]]> 2019-02-19 16:43:07 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332785750 Fore. Buildungsroman, episodic novel, pilaresque novel, dystopian novel https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332786478 Kimerbly and Sultna
Buildungsroman: A literary genre that focuses on psychological growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood.

Episodic novel: A narrative filled with loosely connected incidents with them often connected with the main character(s).

Pilaresque novel: A genre of prose fiction that shows the adventures of someone who lives in a corrupt society but is himself nothing of the sort.

Dystopian society: A setting that completely disagrees with the author's ethos, usually in the form of political and social structures.]]> 2019-02-19 16:44:23 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332786478 2. Leibniz Theory of Optimism lnb2030 https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332786574 Lindsey and Peter

Leibniz was a philosopher/mathematician that lived in the late 1600s through the 1700s.
     
Leibniz wrote a book in 1710 called Theodicee that shared his theory of optimism.

Leibniz believed that the world we live in is the best possible world. His theory consisted of:
1. God is omnipotent/omniscent
2. God created the existing world
3. The world could have been created differently or not at all
4. God knew what the "best" world was and because he is omnibenevolent (kind/generous/etc) he chose to create that world.

Essentially Leibniz is defending the power of God through his theory.

A counter argument is that if the number of possible worlds are infinite, there will always be a world that is better.

Voltaire disagreed with Leibniz's theory, creating Candide as a satirical response to the theory.

Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/best-of-all-possible-worlds]]> 2019-02-19 16:44:31 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332786574 6. Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332794022 Damla, Vilanna, and Agnes

Earthquake
  • Morning of Nov. 1, 1755 (all saints’ day)
  • The Earthquake cost 32 to 48 % of Portugal’s GDP
  • A large part of the population was attending mass during the earthquake
  • Churches collapsed bc they were unable to withstand the seismic shock--- killed/injured thousands of worshippers 
  • Estimated 8.0 magnitude
  • Around 85% of Lisbon’s buildings were reduced to rubble.
  • lasted about 5 minutes, causing 5-meter fissures in length which split-opened in the city center
     
Tsunami
  • “Main seismic source was faulting of the seafloor along the tectonic plate boundaries of the mid-atlantic” --- generated the tsunami 
  • Produced waves 20 ft high at Lisbon
  • tremors caused 3 tsunamis of 6 meter wave length 
  • Waves from the tsunami travelled a distance of 3,790 miles in 10 hours 
 
Fire
  • Candles were lit in the churches for a religious celebration (festival of All Saints). When the earthquake struck, these candles started an enormous fire.
  • Fires burned Lisbon for 5-6 days after the earthquake

Impact on Science
  • Theologians and the religious authorities exploited the situation and the superstitiousness of the people, declaring that the earthquake was a punishment by god for the sins of the world
  •  Lisbon’s authorities did actually announce that the earthquake was indeed a demonstration of God’s wrath 
  • The earthquake was the first one to be studied scientifically for its effects over a large area
  • Signaled the Birth of modern seismology 
  • Philosophers, naturalists and even some theologians had argued already since ancient times against this simple view of the world
  • proposed naturalistic explanations of volcanoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters 
  • the most common hypotheses: air circulation in the crust of the earth, tremors as the results of electric discharge or the spontaneous explosion of gases in the underground

Impact on Philosophy and Religion
  • The earthquake destroyed nearly every major church
  • Philosophers used this to show that the earthquake was not an act of divine wrath (as a deity would not destroy their own churches). Thus the more widely accepted explanation was that the earthquake was simply a natural disaster.
  • The earthquake shook the belief in a merciful god and the power of the church. 
 
Sources:
https://www.york.ac.uk/media/economics/documents/cherrydiscussionpapers/0603.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/event/Lisbon-earthquake-of-1755
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/november-1-1755-the-earthquake-of-lisbon-wraith-of-god-or-natural-disaster/
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lisbon_earthquake_1755
https://lisbonlisboaportugal.com/Lisbon-information/1755-lisbon-earthquake.html
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/11/08/the-lisbon-earthquake-in-1755-natural-disaster-or-gods-punishment/
 
]]> 2019-02-19 16:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332794022 18th Century reception of Candide csiggy20 https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332796300  Christina and Autumn

  • The release of Candide met immediate backlash from secular and religious authorities because the book openly criticizes both the church and the government
  • The Grand Council of Geneva banned the book by 1759
  • Also demanded that all copies be burned
  • However, it was one of the fastest selling books ever
  • In 1762 it made the list of the Roman Catholic churches prohibited books
  • Bannings lasted well into the 20th century in the United States
  • Described as an attack on pessimistic rumination on human nature and the problem of free will
  • Finds room to reply to the many scurrilous attacks made by various fools, scoundrels, and critics on Voltaire himself
  • Participants have opinions and represent philosophical or practical responses to life’s fortunes and misfortunes  
 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/01/candide-voltaire-rereading-julian-barnes 

https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/performing-arts/theater/candide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide#Reception
]]> 2019-02-19 16:59:36 UTC https://padlet.com/rwilliams91/zf7u40l89l3l/wish/332796300