Candide was a great parody towards Leibniz. As we were discussing in class it was obvious that his way of seeing life was much easier than Voltaire’s way. Why do I sustain this? Well the answer is pretty easy.
In life, we experiment situations that are above us, we are not capable of doing much. For instance death or hazards. When we face this moments in our finite lives, we usually feel frustrated and impotent for not being able to the the “right” action and that critical moment. We may even question and blame ourselves to eternity for not coming up with right idea for what to do when does terrible moments arrive.
I could go on exploring the feelings and reactions that critical situations cause in human beings but my aim in this short post is to analyse two critical ways of featuring life: a realistic way Voltaire and an optimistic way Leibniz.
Regarding Leibniz, I would like to point out how easy it would be to live our whole lives seriously believing that this is the best world snd that nothing could be changed. Well...doesn’t it feel much more easier to live like that? It sounds as if one had no responsibility for their acts cause nothing can be done and this is the BEST possible panorama. Somy first reaction to this way of experimenting life is that I would seriously love to believe this! (Ironic) everything looks so easy and it seems there is no pressure at all! Although it may look great, at the end all of this great world is a lie, a beautiful lie, but a lie in the end. At the same time, thinking that nothing can be done will lead to doing nothing so at the end everything will be worst for nit even trying.
On the other hand, Voltaire comes with a much realistic way of approaching life even if it isn’t as happy as Leibniz theory is. What one should know about this way of living is that we may not be as happy, but we will be living closer to the truth, to what really is. And by being aware that things can change, people who choose to live in this way of thinking, will we capable of doing greater things, and succeeding in life in many ways. People with this philosophy are able to change this in this world and pursuit greater things although life will get rough. But at the end, this way of thinkng will get you to the best world.
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ReplyDeleteHi Lucia! I want to share a little thought I had when we discussed about Volataire and Leibniz in class. Why facing life in an optimistic way is related to not taking responsability of our actions? I don´t think they are contradictory or mutually exclusive. For me, the best way of living is in an optimistic way and taking responsability of our actions. Related to that, I think that it is possible to live in an optimistic and realistic way. Even if we accept life as it is and we think that nothing can be done for changing this, we can do great things and succeeding in life. Maybe we would not do thing with the aim of chainging the world, but with the aim of developing ourselves, being better people or making others happier, In other words, I´m not agree with that people with a realistic philosophy are capable of doing greater things. The reason is that if we accept our life and we are happy with that, we will try to enjoy our life and live the life in the best way, and that implies doing great things. Happiness is what mobilizes people to act and doing things, happiness is what give us energy and motivation every day for getting up in the morning and doing things. Happiness or the hope of being happy is what motivate us to face new challenges. If we are not happy with our lives and we are thinking all the time that things could be better, what do us motivate to act?
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