On Voltaire's "Candide"
Writ Large
00:00
What Is Is?
Voltaire objected to the Leibnizian view of determinism. He said that you can explain even the human delusion of free will away. And I think this idea of hope and of incompletion of imminence, the human need to keep carrying on is is the most comforting moral that can be taken away. At the end of the story, Candide learns this valuable truth. The interesting thing about the garden is they don't stop talking about philosophy. But Candide has grown up. He doesn't need a single answer now. He just needs a conversation that will continue to enlighten and deepen.
Transcript
Play full episode
