Thursday, November 1, 2012

Who would Voltaire and Camus vote for?





I have no idea who these writers of old would vote for.  Would they lean more towards the liberals, the party that supposedly believes in more government social programs and less government restriction?  Or the republicans, who believe in less government involvement in socioeconomic issues and industry, but more restriction on the rights of their people?
Honestly, would they even vote at all?  To cast your vote says "Hey, I am taking an active role (no matter how small) in society at large, and I am expressing my opinion as to how things should be run".  It is easy to suppose that Camus would immediately refuse to cast his lot.  As an absurdist he would believe that his vote has no purpose and there is no point in deciding who should run our meaningless government especially since the outcome will not matter in the grand scheme of things.  But what about Voltaire?  From our reading of Candide, what conclusions can we draw about his philosophy?  Well, at the end of the day, Voltaire shows that even when a society has problems (all of them expect El Dorado), to attempt to change it could eventually lead to misunderstandings and mistakes.  Take the example of the monkeys and the savages in the woods.  Candide stumbles upon them and shoots the monkeys, assuming that they are unwanted creatures who are doing harm unto these women.  But, as it turns out, the monkeys were actually the women's lovers.  Through this narrative, I believe Voltaire is trying to tell us that we cannot actively change what we do not know because our preconceived notions could be wrong.   Therefore, I believe Voltaire would also sustain from voting.

2 comments:

  1. Artem reffered to Voltaire and Camus as "writers of the old" as well... interesting coincidence.

    I liek how you states that "Camus would immediately refure to cast his lot." I can see him now, holding up the sheet of paper and dramatically letting it fall to the floor.

    If you HAD to say who they would vote for, who would it be?

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    1. I almost wonder if Voltaire would be an advocate of Socialism or Communism (Marxism style, not Stalinism or Leninism). He really seems to support helping your fellow man, and rather than trying to change and have things go horribly wrong, he puts Candide into a garden where communal work can do its best.

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