| Voltaire |
Voltaire (1694 - 17788) is considered one of the most important philosophers of the French Enlightenment. Taunting remarks about members of the nobility often brought him to short-term imprisonment or to temporary banishment.
Due to its importance, a very detailed biography can be found on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire.
Candide or the Optimism (Candide, ou l'optimisme), published in 1759, resembles to a picaresque novel such as the "Lazarillo de Tormes" or "Der adventurous Simplicissimus". Candide grows up at the Thunder-ten-tronckh Castle (the name is probably due to Voltaire's long stay in England). There is a rumor that he is the illegitimate son of the lord's sister. The lady of the castle in turn has a daughter and when he starts something with her, he is expelled from the castle. From then on an odyssey through all continents, situations and activities begins, whereby the various adventures are only very loosely connected by a framework story. Spoken is the 25th chapter. Candide and Martin, a scholar whom he met in Surinam and for whom he paid for the boat trip so that he could be entertained on the crossing, visit Count Pococuranté at his castle. The novel is above all an attack on any kind of optimistic attitude. Humans are cruel, greedy, devious, violent by nature. Chapter 25 now brings another facet of the general misery. Also the culture, the realm of the "true, beautiful and good" is only a playground for hypocrites.
It is questionable whether the work can be interpreted as serious dispute of the philosophy of Leibniz. It's more likely that it's a general attack on idle philosophizing. A Turk significantly advances the progress of knowledge with a very simple knowledge.
« Vous devez avoir, dit Candide au Turc, une vaste et magnifique terre ? -- Je n'ai que vingt arpents, répondit le Turc ; je les cultive avec mes enfants ; le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux : l'ennui, le vice, et le besoin. »
"You must own a great country estate," Candide said. "I have only twenty acres of land," replied the Turk. I work on them with my kids. Work frees us from three great evils: boredom, vice and want."
The last sentence is crucial. Work frees from three great evils, namely, boredom, vice and want.
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