Doubting Philosophy
Descartes’ Discourse on the Method allows readers to learn of the natural light of the mind through a series of steps and a well-constructed argument. Descartes’ writings warn of the dangers of following a poor instructor of philosophy and how one can avoid such dangers, essentially laying the groundwork for what good philosophy should be judged or measured against. This method strongly contrasts the philosophy of Pangloss depicted in Voltaire’s Candide, which is poorly constructed, never backed by evidence, and does not allow for the expansion of the mind. Pangloss is not a true philosopher because he does not build his views on any evidence or reasoning. While Pangloss is the embodiment of deficient instruction of philosophy, which reflects itself in the behavior of his students, Descartes wrote the Method to show the importance of having a good teacher, so as to avoid a Panglossian society of blind followers.
Pangloss is the unfailingly optimistic tutor of philosophy to the naive character, Candide. Pangloss taught metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology (Voltaire 2), which should be the first clue to his readers that Pangloss is not to be taken seriously. Rather, Pangloss should be seen as an ironic character written to illustrate the dangers of poor teaching. Pangloss believes that life is simply a cycle of cause and effect, and that all that occurs in the world is the best possible way it could be. Pangloss’ philosophy demonstrates how foolhardy optimism can be, how poor teaching can impact students, and how philosophy should never be followed blindly. Pangloss’ philosophy is not backed by any scientific evidence, well-constructed dialect, or sufficient reasoning. Pangloss’ method, then, is a backwards form of philosophy; he comes to conclusions and applies them haphazardly into any situation. Pangloss never explains his reasoning or his basis for philosophy, which, according to Boethius, is pointless and useless to those seeking true wisdom (Boethius 9). Boethius warns in Consolation of Philosophy, that those who are motivated by whim and ignorance, such as Pangloss, are enemies of those with wisdom (Boethius 9). Likewise, Pangloss is an example of someone who is motivated by whims and is ignorant to what true wisdom is, which is not true philosophy. Boethius teaches philosophy through an intellectual dialogue between characters, which Pangloss never takes the opportunity to hold with any of his students. Therefore, Pangloss does not allow his philosophy to be tested or reviewed by others who are seeking wisdom and knowledge, which results in a philosophy that is not based on facts, but rather on opinions of one single person. Pangloss never reasons through a dialogue with any other characters in Voltaire’s Candide; he simply pushes his ideals and values onto his students, and his students blindly follow him. Ultimately, Pangloss is not a teacher concerned with teaching facts; rather, he is a lecturer who places his views on any situation he possibly can.
Throughout the novel, Pangloss’ philosophy is followed by multiple characters, though it leads to many unhappy lives. Pangloss’ students all have unnatural views of life and they all lack important reasoning abilities. Due to Pangloss being Candide’s mentor throughout his childhood, Candide listens innocently to what Pangloss says, and Candide believes it without questioning (Voltaire 2). Pangloss is expelled from the castle when it is overthrown, and when Candide meets him again, Pangloss is a beggar and sick with disease (Voltaire 9). Voltaire deliberately corrupted the image of philosophy by putting Pangloss in a horrible condition and still having him believe in his poorly structured philosophy. Although Pangloss has a terrible disease, he says that it is a necessary evil and worth all of his suffering because the world has chocolate (Voltaire 10). This ridiculous statement is a clear sign to readers that Pangloss has an unnatural outlook on life and that he still believes his own philosophy. Pangloss’ philosophy is dependent on negative events happening to characters throughout the novel, since he believes “private misfortunes make up the general good” (Voltaire 11). Pangloss’ philosophy shows a lack of value for human life, and because of Pangloss’ inaction a man drowns because he said that the lake was made expressly for that man to drown in (Voltaire 12). Pangloss is so emotionally unconnected to his students that even when Candide is begging to be helped, Pangloss is concerned only about his “all is well” philosophy (Voltaire 13). At the end of Voltaire’s novel, all the characters are living and working together to provide for each other. Each character is helping the group, except Pangloss, who is still simply pushing his philosophy, when Candide finally wants to move away entirely from philosophy (Voltaire 96).
Descartes’ approach follows a very systematic process that places emphasis on having evidence before one believes a philosophy to be correct. Descartes wrote the Discourse on the Method so that all people possessing good sense (5) would be able to reason properly and live accordingly. Descartes believed that the power to judge life correctly was a gift given to all people. However, not everyone uses their good sense, and those who do not reason correctly are little more than brutes. Following a systematic reasoning, Descartes writes that he was not trying to teach the method that everyone should follow; but rather, he shows his readers how he carries the method out (Descartes 6). In striking contrast to Pangloss, He places emphasis on cultivating solid philosophy and not building on plausible philosophy until it has been proven. Descartes wrote the Method as an illustration for living a life with the fullest possible mental capacity and abilities. Descartes placed value on truth and wanted readers to understand that to find truth in all areas of life, one must first doubt as to avoid mistakes in reason (Descartes 28). In part two, Descartes teaches readers that having teachers can hinder students in their reason. According to Descartes, teachers who instill preconceived ideals and values into students without allowing the students to reason themselves lead to students who will not be of the proper mind. Descartes warns that to truly have the best possible reasoning ability, students must be taught how to think for themselves and not just be told how to live (Descartes 13). “Because we were governed by our appetites, we did not have full use of our reason” (Descartes 13), this is Descartes emphasizing that instructors must be very careful in their methods and teachers must cultivate minds. If a teacher does not allow students to expand their reasoning and their knowledge, the teacher is functionally useless.
While Pangloss’ students in Candide follow his philosophy blindly and do not question his philosophy, followers of Descartes have a model for how to seek truth in philosophy. Descartes wrote the Method to show how he acts and lives (Descartes 6); essentially, Descartes creates a guide for how to use a scientific method of thinking. Descartes emphasizes that before trusting what a learned person says, one should first doubt it and search for the truth oneself (Descartes 10). Descartes holds an analytical viewpoint and would want society to doubt what it is told, as to live the best possible world. Descartes writes about a process of doubt leading to truth, which is a parallel to Boethius using a process of dialogue to lead to truth. Both Boethius and Descartes use a method of reasoning through life. Descartes fact checks all of his claims and his reasoning, while Boethius checked his through deep thinking and dialogue with Lady Philosophy. Both novels show readers ways to test and logically examine philosophy, providing examples of proper instruction in philosophy. Descartes believes the mind is logical and has intuitive powers. For the mind is what determines what is true or false, in contrast to the naive or commonsense view that believes it has immediate access to what beings are. Descartes states explicitly that he is not concerned to know the source of his notions of things outside himself (Cornell 1). Descartes believes that the mind is capable of learning and growing itself, if humans use it to its full capability, which is only possible through his scientific method of doubt (Cornell 1). Descartes does not just write the Method to just teach philosophy; he wrote it to teach society how to know what true philosophy is and how to know what to follow.
Descartes and Pangloss are both philosophers, and they both believe they hold important views of the world. However, Pangloss is a fictional character that Voltaire uses to show an embodiment of a bad philosopher and a poor instructor. Pangloss demonstrates what happens when people blindly follow a learned person and do not take the time to build their own reasoning faculties, and he also shows the effects a poor teacher has on their students. Similarly, Descartes wrote his discourse to warn readers that without thinking for themselves and building their own personal worldview, they would be lost to the true nature of the mind. Descartes is essentially teaching that following others is only acceptable after they have been proven to be worthy of having followers. The Method gives readers the steps required to seek the natural truths based on their own knowledge and allowing readers to form their own thoughts and opinions. Pangloss is the very embodiment of the dangers about which Descartes wrote, allowing people to blindly follow him because he believes he is smarter than he truly is, and he is not humble as he should be. Descartes wrote the Method, which should be read by everyone, to avoid having a world full of Pangloss followers. The difference between the two philosophers is the evidence supporting their claims. Descartes teaches that it is always better to have a well-structured, evidence-based philosophy as one’s guide, than to follow the teachings of an instructor who does not doubt.
Works Cited
Descartes René. A Discourse on the Method. Translated by Ian Maclean, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Voltaire. Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories. Signet Classics, 2009.
Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy. Translated by David R. Slavitt, Harvard University Press, 2010.
Cornell, John F. Promethean metaphysics: the idea of a more perfect being in Descartes’ discourse on method. The Review of Metaphysics, vol. 72, no. 1, 2018, p. 77+. Gale Academic Onefile,
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