Treatise of Human Nature: Candide - Assignment Example

Candide People have faced and endured famine, wars, and suffering that have been part of them since the beginning of theworld. For instance, in the fourteenth century, majority of people worked on land using the traditional method of cultivation called the three-field system (Turner et al 289). People who lived in 17th century aimed to increase crop production and supply of food to avoid starvation. As food production increased, human population also increased because of plenty of food. Surprisingly, the population grew higher and surpassed food to feed them or jobs to employ them. This in turn caused hunger and starvation among most people during that time1. The Zwinglian and Lutheran reformations dissatisfied many people because they wanted a more rapid and aggressive apostolic Christianity and new ways of doing things. The Anabaptist group emerged during this time to protest against infant baptism and instead, it called for adult baptism as this they believed was in line with the teaching of Jesus (Turner et al 327). Between 1525 and 1618, many people were murdered for rebaptizing themselves as adults. Those people who did not conform to the Lutherans and Zwinglian ideologies were brutally beaten and forced to emigrate. As a response to these developments, the Protestants and catholic armies united to dismantle the radicals. Many people suffered because of fighting in that they lacked food and other basic needs (Turner et al 327). During the age of religious war, Theodore Beza spoke loudly against tyranny and oppression of the people by the government. The government was challenged to provide security to its citizens because people were suffering during that time. King Henry IV agreed to protect the rights of people by granting religious freedom to the Edict of Nantes. They were given freedom of public worship, admission to public offices and the right to assembly (Turner et al 351) In 1315-17, crop production dwindled which resulted in famine during the middle ages. All people were affected in that even people from town suffered badly due to lack of food. Subsequent decades were characterized by overpopulation, famine, economic depression, and poor health, which weakened the population and made them susceptible to dangerous bubonic plague that arose in 1348. The plague was deadly and spread rapidly from Asia to Europe. Further, the plague remedies were gruesome and painful in that when it entered the human lungs during the onset of the disease, it destroyed the lungs, which eventually led to wheezing and sneezing thus spreading from one person to another2. The situation at that time was uncontainable because physicians had no knowledge on how to handle the disease that was killing many people. To the physicians, the plague was a catastrophe like earthquake or tsunami with no description and against which there was no medicine or any form of defense (Pearson et al 259). Some people tried to explain the causes of the plague and suffering. They attributed these situations to a corruption in the universe that led to the disease. They argued that poisonous gases released by earthquake were responsible for the outbreak of the disease. In attempt to conquer this situation, some people sought a therapy in temperate life and moderation while others engaged to passions such as sex. Those areas that were harshly infested with the disease witnessed high sexual activities. In addition, those who were prudent enough sought seclusion as the best remedy for the disease. These events justifies Candide’s argument that people in live convulsion of misery or sufferings. To reveal the desperation that human beings find themselves in is the fact that during this time many people turned to religious rituals believing that such acts would bring divine intervention from supreme beings than human beings. However, the nature of the flagellant rituals made the situation worse because it resulted in bleeding which may have further spread the disease. In addition, the activity disrupted normal social operation in that the church intervened by outlawing such ritual processions this made people confused. The disease weakened people and killed many of them. This in turn had a negative impact on the economic and social setting of the society. For instance, deaths of many people led to depopulation, which led to decline in supply of labor; therefore, food production was also affected because there were no people to work on farms. As supply of labor declined, wages increased tremendously and the skilled artisans ascended (Pearson et al 261). This development made many workers to commute their services into cash payments and looked for more paying jobs in craft industries. Further, prices of agricultural products fell because of declining demand while the price of manufactured and luxury goods increased. This new developments in society saw the power of Landlords decrease because they were forced to pay for more manufactured goods and farm labor while getting little from their agricultural produce. The reality of mortality of human beings is as old as human history. During the middle ages, people viewed death in different ways. People understood that life was a continuous dying while death a promise of eternal life. Therefore, things such as diseases caused death and people came to realize that they could do nothing about it. People who suffered from diseases and other afflictions explained there conditions as between God and the physicians. In order to concur with Candide’s sentiments, it is true that people feared to die and dying out of the mercies of God. When a person was about to die, the physician, and the clergy prepared them to accept the reality of death in that the clergy gave them hope for eternal life in heaven while the physician tried to administer medication with the hope of healing an ailing person. For instance, the clergy administered church sacraments and commemorations in order to encourage the dying person that there is another life in heaven. Societal disagreements emerged because of the increasing significance of the skilled artisans. This is because the political and economic power of domestic artisans and traders increased tremendously during this time. The patricians and merchants social statuses were difficult to maintain because of the increasing powers of the domestic artisan and traders. This situation enabled the traders to acquire leadership positions in government where they drafted laws that aimed to propagate their own interests at the expense of the entire society. These restrictive policies led to disagreements and conflicts between master artisans who wanted to dominate the society by ensuring that their numbers in society did not increase. They also wanted to enlarge their industries. On the other hand, the traders (journeymen) aimed to move to the master status in society (Pearson et al 269). The plague also caused more misery to the society in that it led to conflict between the monarchy and the church. The monarchy under the leadership of a king aimed to manipulate the economy by trying to centralize the government and the economy. On the other hand, the plague killed many priests as they tried to prepare ill people to die peacefully. Therefore, due to decline in number of clergymen, the monarchy decided to move the church from Rome to Avignon in France, this development led to the great schism since the clergymen protested this move. The medieval conflicts and wars brought suffering to people because it interfered with the normal societal setting and functioning as energetic young men and adult men with families were forced to work in the military. As such, women were forced to assume duties conducted by men such as taking care of the family. Further, due to war, agricultural production decreased because there were no people to provide labor on farms since those who were to offer labor services were busy fighting in the war3. During the thirteenth century, the papacy had more power and authority, which made the pope at that time centralize the monarchy. The authority of the pope led to disintegration of the church in the sense that it spiritually weakened it. For instance, the church pretended to be the “body of the faithful.” It was this notion that made the heretics and reformers to protest against the papal church and its doctrine resulting in protestant reformation that aimed to change the teachings of the church. The church authority and power undermined both the servants and the clergymen in that the church under the leadership of pope controlled the land laws, appointments and administered punishment to wrong doers (Pearson et al 274). From the text, it is clear that the papal authority and domination has in essence caused suffering and misery to the public. The unity and harmony of societal life would seem to agree the very principle that Candide’s has been arguing in his works because the experiences that people went through justifies all the struggle and problems faced by humanity in an attempt to survive. Anarchism in society discriminates some people. For instance, Cosimo de Medici was a rich diplomat from Florence who used his influence to control things such as the constitution so that it was drafted in a manner that favored his interests. Further, despotism was evident in other parts of the world in that leaders of various countries hired despots to maintain law and order, and suppress any revolt in society. Social stratification and conflict was a good example of social division and autocracy4. For instance, in Florence, there existed social classes within society whereby the merchants and the nobles ruled the society. The origin of wealthy merchants and traders formed the second classes (Pearson et al 284). They were determined to challenge the nobility, this in turn hampered societal unity, and harmony as these groups struggled for dominance. In order to avoid misery, human beings need to be happy and live in harmony with each other as this will eliminate conflicts and create a conducive environment for significant activities to thrive. Works Cited Hume, David. Treatise of Human Nature. New York: Fontana, 1972, Print. Pearson, Roger and Voltaire. Candide and Other Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Turner, Frank, Kagan, Donald, and Ozment, Steven. The Western Heritage: Volume 1, 10th Ed. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print. Voltaire. Candide. New York: Renaissance Classics, 2012. Print. Read More