For Tuesday 9/29: Read First Half of Frankenstein (Including the preface)

Terms to know:
– Causality/Reason
– Mind/Body Dualism
– Satire
– Mystification

The Age of Enlightenment:
17th-18th Centuries in Europe and America
– Enlightenment was a result of the reaction to superstition of early tradition
– It’s goal was to find ones place in the world through rational, reasonable, and quantifiable experience rather than assuming that things just happen through the works of God
– It was the beginning of a scientific age (Movement away from religion)

“Cogito Ergo Sum” or “I think therefore I am”
– This embraced the fact that you have a mind of your own
– Thinking –> imagining, point of view, questioning, what makes us human, the capacity to reason is what makes us human, dismantles hierarchy (you think therefore you are)
– Enlightenment places the thinking human at the center of life

“On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card (sail of ship), but passion is the gale (wind/guiding force)” – Alexander Pope, Essay on man 1733
– Everyone moves diversely through the ocean of life (meaning there are multiple journeys to take)
– Reason acts as the function piece (the card) but passion is the force behind it
– Reason and passion ultimately work in conjunction with one another.

Terms Commonly Associated with Enlightenment:
1) Deism: Accept there is a universal creator. Common belief is that this creator made the world a watch – it keeps going on its own accord with no daily manipulation. Deism lead to secular humanism (the belief that humans are number one).
2) Universal Human Rights: There are certain inalienable rights – we are free, allowed to live life with integrity and respect, etc.
3) Nature as Pattern: Thinking about world/nature as a cause and effect relationship (Ex: No rain means a lake will dry up).
4) Scientific Method: Understanding trough experimentation and quantifiable evidence.

World of Candide:
– That of a “Soap Opera” – Everything is the most drastic result
– Satirical quality
– Challenges expectation of realism
– World seems conflicted as a result of greed, religion, and philosophies

Candide is innocent, susceptible to influence, and naive

Pangloss’s theory is dedicated to optimism.
Page 1: “It is demonstrable,” said he, “that things cannot be otherness than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessary for the best end”
– This is ultimately a faulty theory because he uses a sort of inverted, crazy, mixed up logic (effect by cause rather then cause and effect (causality))
– Ex; we have a nose to breathe, legs to walk
– However the biggest critique can be seen when he says “All things cannot be otherwise…”
– This is demonstrative of a rampant optimism. It ultimately takes away from what things are.
– This includes no questioning -> a troubling view of the world.

His theory is the result of mystification.
– Mystification: Process by which dominant power convinced us of a truth only because it benefits them.
– Page 8 – We find our Pangloss has syphilis. He justifies this with human progress (an overall mystification of the order of things)

How is Candide a satire?
– Making fun of philosophies
– “Sufficient Reason” is a running joke throughout the book and is a euphemism for sex
– Ultimately claims the reason we do everything is love and sex (Candide’s love for Cunegonde)

Page 40 – Candide in the new world (El Dorado)
– Paradise – Jewels so plentiful used as stone, everyone is happy, no fighting, no hunger, no poverty
– This is an example of utopia (Greek for nowhere)
– The people of El Dorado give up thinking in order to maintain their utopia (“here we are all of one opinion”)
– Despite their seemingly perfect living, Candide still wants Cunegonde

After his experience in the utopia of El Dorado Candide is able to see all of the problems of hi own world. He is now demystified of Pangloss’s optimism.

Candide ends up in a garden in turkey with all of his people (Cunegonde, Cacambo, Pangloss, etc).
– They all happily resolve together
– Candide starts to take things as are (“Let’s cultivate our own garden”)
– New truth: To take your own path… You go one way and I’ll go my own… Not forgetting to be active in the world.

The garden is a metaphor for our minds. Our minds need to be cultivated which is not justified by Pangloss’s philosophy. Cultivating is active and subjective.
– This gives Candide agency (ability of one to have power and mobility over his or her circumstance)