Voltaire s Candide A Period Of Amazing Technological...

The Enlightenment was a period of incredible technological and scientific development that coincided with an ever increasing dissatisfation and rejection with the dogmatism of the old systems of philosophy and the dogmas of orthodox Christianity. The rejection of orthodox Christian dogma was led by the increasing number of religious and political liberals. These religious liberals deviated from (the Univeralists in the United States for example) or totally rejected (the Deists for example) some or much of orthodox Christianity while the political liberal advocated free markets, limited state control of the social and economic spheres, and a seperation from Church and State. Voltaire wrote Candide around the middle of 18th century France, a time when the Enlightenment was sweeping across the Western world. Candide represents the dissatisfaction of Enlightenment thinkers with the dogmatism of orthodox Christianity, a change of focus from the abstract metaphysics of the past to a world of practical activity and scientific discovery, and a rejection of the traditional theories of politics. Voltaire, and many other Enlightenment thinkers, rejected the dogmas of orthodox Christianity in favor of Deism and humanism. Voltaire s commitment to Deism and his attacks on Christianity are readily prevalent in Candide, shining through especially well in the contrast between the inhabitants of Eldorado and the inhabitants in the largely Christian countries of Europe and the New World and