One of the major philosophers of the French Enlightenment was undoubtedly François-Marie Arouet "Voltaire." With his agile pen sharp, ironic humor with that which characterized wrote many reviews that are up to the sun very much at issue today.
In one of his "Candide o The Optimist "mercilessly mocks the Christian philosopher Leibniz.
It said that live in the best of all possible worlds, meaning that is in the nature of man to be (or try at least) a good man. It is said that man always points to the pursuit of perfection. For Leibniz the worst of all possible worlds is the man who points to the wrong and want to voluntarily move away from perfection.
When Voltaire read Leibniz's phrase, it becomes the object of derision. But it does not because I thought, as if Hobbes thought that man is and will remain bad. Voltaire did not understand what Leibniz meant. He confused their terms, thinking that what the philosopher meant is that the world is perfect and has no imperfections. This theory is very easy to refute: they simply are witnesses of all wars that man has caused, poverty, enriching a few at the expense of a people, corruption, the existence of totalitarians and dictators, rapists, criminals, murderers who clearly demonstrate that the world is imperfect.
is why the young Candide, a good man, optimistic, roams the world looking for the "perfect" world that fails. As our hero, he is optimistic will not change his mind, despite all the misery and suffering the horrors he sees in the world. Candido
always remember the teachings of his teacher who told him that any damage that may occur is a contribution to the common good, (part of the irony of the author of course). However, Voltaire does not deny that man is good. Indeed in this satire, Voltaire created characters like the Anabaptist Jacques to help Candide on his journey and is presented as being unselfish. As with the character of the old woman picks it up from the ground, takes him home and feeds him. We can say that Voltaire admits there is goodness in the world.
We conclude that, viewed from a different perspective, Voltaire did not destroy the philosophy of Leibniz, but he made his own critique of the world's imperfections. His satire is entirely valid and is not as pessimistic as it seems. To Voltaire (I think that Leibniz also) the world is not bad, just is imperfect.