It's understandably difficult to pin one set of values to the Philosophes because their range of ideas, opinions, and beliefs were so wide. Not all Philosophes emerged from a kind of social-activist mold. Voltaire, for instance, was a harsh critic of Enlightenment optimism, but he didn't share Rousseau's claim that the arts and sciences were nothing more than "garlands of flowers [thrown] on iron fetters." (Kramnick 363) Similarly, although the idea of a perfect God creating …
showed first 75 words of 1615 total

showed last 75 words of 1615 total
…to endure such pains, you'd never have arrived here. This, of course, presumed that 'here' was somehow preferable to any other state that he'd already been in. Candide answers cryptically: "But we must tend our garden." (Voltaire 120) This alludes to the idea that, perhaps, explaining why good and evil exist-and whether or not they should-isn't as important as acknowledging their existence, and trying to live one's life to the fullest, regardless of an irrecoverable Eldorado.