Beginning in the seventeenth century and peaking in the eighteenth century, the champions of the Enlightenment called for rebellion against superstition, fear, and prejudice. They attacked the aristocracy and the church. Candide, which reflects Voltaire's lifelong aversion to Christian regimes of power and the arrogance nobility, is a prime example of the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. "The Enlightenment " is a term applied to a wide variety of ideas and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine. Many historians mark the French Revolution as the crowning event of the era. The primary feature of Enlightenment philosophy is faith in the power of reason and rational thought to lead human beings to a better social structure. A spirit of social reform characterized the political ideology.
             While Voltaire's Candid is heavily characterized by the primary concerns of the Enlightenment, it also criticizes certain aspects of the movement. It attacks the strain of optimism that holds that rational can curtail the evils perpetrated by human beings. Like other Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire believed that society could and should be changed for the better. He wanted to see irrational prejudice and hatred abolished. However, he did not suffer from a naive optimism regarding human nature. He viewed his fellow creatures with a deep permission. The collection of villains in Candide plainly reflects this pessimism. He did not believe in the power of reason to overcome contemporary social conditions. Many thinkers of the Enlightenment found their most vigorous support in the aristocracy, a group of people they also often criticized. This meant the philosophy of the Enlightenment was used to improve rather than undermine the position of the nobility. The Enlightenment spawned the idea of the "enlighten monarchy." Rather than denying the divine right of kings, this particula...