Broox Anderson

HUM 2500

Dr. Hinton

03 May 2017

Voltaire: Proto-Romantic and Unlikely Father of ‘Pure’ Empiricism

This thesis has blossomed from an engagement with Enlightenment- and Romantic-era

works, most notably ​Candide ​(Voltaire) and ​The Sorrows of Young Werther ​(Goethe). Typically,

the Enlightenment (ca. 1690-1800) and Romanticism (ca. 1789-1850) are seen as antithetical

forces locked in a sort of eternal struggle for primacy. The Enlightenment championed

rationality, social empiricism, scientific progression, institutionalism, classicism, and the

preeminence of society while Romanticism, as evidenced in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s

The Sorrows of Young Werther,​ advocated for individualism, emotionality, “pure” empiricism,

retrospection, medievalism, and the preeminence of nature (Goethe). Most importantly, the

aspects of Enlightenment rationalism vs. Romantic “pure” empiricism noted here are expounded

by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

The dispute between rationalism and empiricism concerns the extent to which we are

dependent upon sense experience in our effort to gain knowledge. Rationalists claim

that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained

independently of sense experience. Empiricists claim that sense experience is the

ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge. (Markie)

Romanticism cherished the individual and his/her sense experience as the basis of knowledge

while the Enlightenment valued an abstract, social, or conceptual form of knowledge. Thus,

Romanticism and the Enlightenment could not ​hope​ to appear to be two more dialectically

opposed things.
 However, this may not be an accurate perception. If we deeply consider Voltaire, one of

the most storied proponents of the Age of Enlightenment, and his philosophically ambiguous

and satirical work, ​Candide​, an unprecedented light is shed on the relationship between

Romanticism and the Enlightenment. This light discerns Voltaire as an unwitting father of

Romanticism—something few would argue.

Voltaire is, to many, the epitome of Enlightenment ideals. J.B. Shank of Stanford

University defines his contributions in kind:

Voltaire's philosophical legacy ultimately resides as much in how he practiced

philosophy, and in the ends toward which he directed his philosophical activity, as in any
specific doctrine or original idea. Yet the particular philosophical positions he took, and
the way that he used his wider philosophical campaigns to champion certain
understandings while disparaging others, did create a constellation appropriately called
Voltaire's Enlightenment philosophy. True to Voltaire's character, this constellation is
best described as a set of intellectual stances and orientations rather than as a set of
doctrines or systematically defended positions. Nevertheless, others found in Voltaire
both a model of the well-oriented ​philosophe​ and a set of particular philosophical
positions appropriate to this stance. Each side of this equation played a key role in
​ hilosophie​ that Voltaire came to personify.
defining the Enlightenment p
(Shank)

Voltaire embodied what it meant to be a progressive Enlightenment thinker. His works and

personal stances generally ceded to these greater ideals, and he was influenced considerably

by thinkers like John Locke and Isaac Newton (Shank). Many of Voltaire’s texts corroborate this.

However, there is a significant instance in Voltaire’s writing that foreshadows a looming

dialectical shift. The conclusion that Voltaire carefully penned in ​Candide ​departed from the

Enlightenment’s prepossession with social progression and can be interpreted as something

truly revolutionary. ​Candide’s ​conclusion is a window into the soul of an evolving philosopher. It

serves to conclude not only the story but, in a sense, the ideals of the Enlightenment period. It is
an eloquent defeat of social assumptions. It straddles the cusp of introspection. It is, without a

doubt, proto-Romantic.

Consider these concluding passages from ​Candide,​ where the satire of the book is lifted,

to the extent possible, in order to reveal the intent and underlying message of Voltaire’s work​.

The book ends with scenes of the group of characters consulting a Turkish Dervish about

understanding life and ends with Voltaire’s famous garden metaphor. The resonance of the final

line is almost tangible. It is intentionally ambiguous to dissuade dissension, but apparent upon

reflection that the sentiment “to cultivate one’s own garden” is a notable departure from the

social progressiveness and institutionalism inherent in Enlightenment philosophy.

Beginning at the top of the passage, notice that the Dervish, a holy figure in Muslim

sects and a ritualistic and “enlightened” being, advocates that Voltaire’s character, Pangloss,

“hold [his] tongue” (86). This is important considering the etymology of the word ​pangloss​: “The

name ‘Pangloss’ comes from Greek ​pan,​ meaning ‘all,’ and ​glossa,​ meaning ‘tongue,’

suggesting glibness and talkativeness” (“Panglossian”). Pangloss, being a philosopher and

“professor of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology” (1), thus represents the intangible or

abstract nature of philosophy in the Enlightenment. By saying “hold your tongue,” Voltaire

effectively demonstrates his belief that Enlightenment thinkers’ proclivity to judge or live purely

abstractly and arbitrarily is irrational, even inhuman. This realization suggests that Voltaire was

not in fact a true rationalist like his Enlightenment counterparts, but reveals instead an

inclination for “pure” empiricism (meaning individual sensory experience as a vital component of

humanity and epistemology), which is an attribute later championed by Romanticism.

Voltaire’s empirical propensity is further corroborated in the sense of his adage to tend to

one’s own garden (87) at the end of the book when the satirical voices of the characters shift to

proclaim the point of the text. Voltaire makes two significant references: the Garden of Eden and
the Latin phrase ​ut operaretur eum​ which means roughly “to serve oneself” in this context.

These inclusions are steeped in what would become later Romantic ideals. The Garden of Eden

refers to two of the foremost facets of Romanticism—nature and retrospection—while the

phrase ​ut operaretur eum (​ “to serve oneself”) intimates the very essence of the Romantic that

separates him or her from the Enlightenment thinker: pure empiricism, which is the primacy of

the individual and his or her sensory experience in nature. The phrase ​ut operaretur eum

functions also as a component of introspection, of self-contemplation and self-interest, which is

a term incongruent with typical Enlightenment philosophy but parallel to Romantic beliefs.

In another bolded excerpt, the old happy Turk explains to Candide, “I never trouble my

head about what is transacting at Constantinople; I content myself with sending there for sale

the fruits of the garden which I cultivate” (86). This is highly reminiscent of Romantic ideals. As

an analogy, this excerpt from ​Candide ​functions aptly. Romanticism promoted rurality and

departure from society in the context of then sharing that empirical experience with society. In

the analogy, the happy Turk is the Romantic, removed from society and willfully ignorant of its

volatility. The fruits of his garden, then, are his empirical discoveries, insights, intuition, and

feelings, and he is content in sending them back to society from his remote stead. His rurality is

key, as, if he was not detached from society, the fruits could not be cultivated—his empirical

insights could not be had.

Romanticism also glorified the “common man” in the context of stratified social classes.

Voltaire exalts the common man in ​Candide​ most notably​ w

​ hen he writes, “Grandeur is

extremely dangerous,” and, “‘This honest Turk seems to be in a situation preferable to that of

kings[...]’” (86). Candide and his company thus emulate the Turk and find contentment in

laboring “according to their different abilities” (87). This comment on commonality and
individualism differs from the Enlightenment philosophy that focused on ubiquitous rationality

and conformity to institutional practices.

Voltaire adds in the conclusion that Candide “made profound reflections” (86) upon his

conversation with the old and happy Turkish man before adopting his philosophy. This passage

is easily overlooked, but significant with respect to Voltaire’s social critique. It suggests that

nothing is immediate—especially philosophy—and that achieving new understanding requires

experience and contemplation. With respect to Voltaire, and his character Candide, it refers to

the necessary journey to arrive at an educated conclusion.

For Voltaire, the logical resolution of the Enlightenment was apparent. As Adorno and

Horkheimer said,

The Enlightenment disenchanted us from the world and established [rationality] as the

ultimate authority. The problem with that is that people aren’t capable of critiquing their

own reason the way they can critique external sources of authority. Without checks and

balances, personal reason can become a more invidious and tyrannical form of authority

than any other. The Enlightenment, then, does away with self-knowledge and erects an

unchecked form of authority over the individual and over society. (Adorno)

To us, with the benefit of hundreds of years of retrospect, it is ostensible that the Enlightenment

largely faded because, as valiantly as we may try, we can never truly escape ourselves.

Romanticism, ironically as it may seem, claims greater rationality in its acknowledgment of this;

it not only acknowledges it but revels in it. However paradoxical, the Romantic’s navel-gazing is

not misplaced, not irrational in the wider of view of things. In terms of empiricism, the Romantic

fully realized the aspirations of the Enlightenment. Romanticism can be seen, then, not as a

dialectical reaction to the Enlightenment, but as its ultimate terminus; and Voltaire came to this

conclusion at the end of ​Candide.

 In conjunction, these passages demonstrate that it is likely when Voltaire resolves in

Candide​ that we must “cultivate our garden,” and this “according to our own abilities,” he is

advocating for man to act empirically and individually, and that, in this, we will thus “be in a

situation preferable to that of kings” (86-7). This evidence suggests that Voltaire’s ​Candide i​ s a

satirical critique of Enlightenment rationale and that Voltaire unknowingly leveled the base upon

which Romanticism would unfold.

 Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor W., and Max Horkheimer. ​Dialectic of Enlightenment​. Stanford, CA:

Stanford UP, 2002. Print.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. ​The Sorrows of Young Werther​. Mineola, NY: Dover

Publications, 2002. Print.

Markie, Peter. "Rationalism vs. Empiricism." ​Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.​

Stanford University, 19 Aug. 2004. Web. 03 May 2017.

"Panglossian." ​Merriam-Webster​. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

Shank, J.B. "Voltaire." ​Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.​ Stanford University, 31 \

Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

Voltaire. ​Candide​. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Print.