(;IIArTl:R F[V E

Lctterfrom j. j. Rousseau to M. de Voltain:

August [8. [7j6 Your b5[ I>o~:ms. Sir, haw rea,lll":! me in 01)' SOIi(Ulk-;l and ahhough

all !II)' friends knoll' tile )on.: I hJI'I. ti,r your wriTings, [ do not know from which side [hese ~"Ould haw come to mc, unk-ss it be from \'Ollr o wn. ) hJ.\'c found pleasure inthcm alo ng with illSlruction, ami n:cogni7,ed ,he' hand of the mJster; ~nd [ beliew ! owe \1) U Ih~nks for the cop), 3_~ \l'd l as fix Ihe work. I shJllnot tell ),)u!lm everything "bout them appears

equ~JJy gooou..:., J

Letter to Voltaire

humanit}' which appears to ha\'e inspired you 10 write it. YUlI rcproJch Pope and Lcibniz lor insulting our misfurtunes, by maintJining that e"erything l is good,; and yon so amplify the tableau of our miseries that )'Ou aggravJte the sentiment of them: insteJd of the consolations for which [ hoped , yon on ly cause me to be atllicted. One might say that you fear that [ do not sec well enough how unhappy I am; and it seems you e"peel to tranquili7..e me a good deal by proving to me [JUT (,"(rvThing is b;ld.

Do not deceive yourself on this, Sir; it happens entirely to the contrary of what rOll intend. 111is optimism that you find SO cruel consoles me nevertheless in the vcry suAcrings that you depict to me as imuler.lhle.

l'opL's poem SWeL'tenS 111)' ills and leads me to pat ience; yours embit-ters mr pJins, invites me to grumbling, ami depriving me of everything beyond a shaken hope, it reduccs me to despair. 10 this strange opposition which reigns between what yOll eSlablish and what I experience, calm the perplexity which agitaTes me, and tell me, which is ~buscd, fn:ling or reason! ""-Ian han' patiern:e," Pupe :lnd Lcihniz tell me. " Yuur ills 3rt: 3

ll~Cc.~sa ry Cff~C1 of YOUT nanm,:, and of the (onstit utinn of this \1 ni"(;fsc. The efanal and benefi(em B~ing who go\"erns you \\"ould hav~ liked to safL'guard you fro111 them. Of :111 th~ emnom;e.'> poss;bl~, he has chosen lht: on~ which combined [he least bad with the most good, or (to sar the

~!11~ thing more crudely, ifit is nccc.ssary) ifhe has nut done bener, it is because he could not do bener."

What docs your poem now tell me! ~Slltlcr fore\"er, wretches. If there is a God whu has created yOll, no doubt he is all-powerful; he muld hal'e

prcn~nted all your ills: do not hope then that they will en~r end; for one could not sec why yO\l exist, ifit is not to suffer and ro die." ) do nO[ know ",h.lI such a doctrine could have that is more consoling thm 01" timisnt and even faralism. As for 111C, I acknowledge it appears [() me ewn crueler than ;\hnichaeis1ll , If perpl~xit)" concerni ng the origin of e\"il fon-es rou to aller one of the perfections of God, why do }'Ou wish 10 justify his pOll"cr at the cxp~nsc (If his goodness? If it is llC(es,~ary to choosc between twO error.;, I like thl' first onc still better.

You do nO[ wish, Sir, that your work be regarded as a poem against l'rovidmce; and I sha ll illdeL'

PI., I V, Jo(iO~J06l S'

for J showed men how rhey eaused thei r miscric.~ themsell"C5, and con~qu

Letter to Vo/tain?

~an sometimes pass lor a rdativc good.h Of so man)' m~n crushed under the ruins of Lisbon. several, unduubtedly, hJ"e e'";l(kd some grearcr misfortunes; and, d

Pl.) l l~ Joti2-Jo64 SJ

good artisan, who lives commodiously h~' his tmdc; c,','n a peasa rH , tlsolllll"lr r,gul.lrothit; 11m no known being is of a precisdy malhcm:uical form; tl1.l1 no prccise 'lliamil}, is required (or any 0IXCratioll; lh,1Ilu1I1re nelw aCl~ rigorously; Ihat therefore one IMS no rcason to as-'iCr! that one atom less 011 earth

\\~ lIIld he thc CoIll SC of lhe Earth\ destruction. I admit 10 )~'U th;lI con-cerning all this. Sir. J ammorc struck by the torte Ilfthe Jsscrtion lhan hy Iha, "rthc rcJ."",il1g, alllllh.u un Ihili oeeas;"", I would (cdc with more conlidcncc 10 ~'our amhority Ihan 10 rour proofs.

With ITspect to "-Ir. de Cmll7.as, I ha,'c not re:lt! his writing ag;limt Pope, and perhaps i am in no position 10 IIndl"rst:md it; bw whal is "cr)' certain is tlUl , .\h0111not g"1111 to him II"h,n J ~h.11I h:I"c di.'plited lI"ilh )'011, and Ihal I ha"c 'lllilC as litt lc f'lith in his proofs 3S in his ;Ulthorit)" Far (mm thinking that nature is nO! s llbjcct to thc pnxi.

Lettc/, to Voltaire

follm\'s this precision, bITau~ it 3lom~ kuows how to compare exactly the ends and the means, and to measure the toree by the resistance. As for thes.c pretended irregularities. em it be doubted that they all ha\"C their physic,11 c~usc, and docs it sulnce nO! to perceive it in o rder to deny that it t:xi5t51 Tht:~ apparcllt irregularities C(lmt: no doubt from some laws unkllown to us and th~ t nature tollows 'luite as fait hfully as those which arc known to liS; from some agent that we do not pcrn:ive, ~nd whosc hindrance or cooperation has fixed measures in all its operations: o therwise it would tx nc

PI., I V, 1064-1067 55

of Ihe bod)' which produce5 it. Thus, the dusr that a carri~ge rJiscs can do norhing to th" "pcr~tion ofth" l-ehide and 1

Lcrt~;- to Volrnirc

As lor the rest, you haw made OJ vay fitting ,'orrectionlO Pope's ~yslI,m, hy observing rhat there is nc> pmporrion~l gr.ld~rion tx-rween the creat ures ;lI1d the Creator, an,; Ihal, if the dlain of created I~ings ends with God, it i5 becausc he hold5 it, and nOt OCCJUSC he terminates it. 18

On th~ good of the whole, prdcr;tbk 10 that of its part, you h~\'e man say: "I ought to I'1C a.~ dear 10 nly master, I, a thinking and keling being, as the pI~n~l'; which probably do not fed ~t ;111."19 Undoubtedly this ma-taialun;l'asc ought not to be dearer to its Author than a single think-ing and Icdi ng being. tiut Ihe system of this un;\'erse which produces. conscn'~s, and I~rpetuates all the thinking and feding beings ought to be dearer 10 him than a single one ofthesc beings; he (.";tn therefore, 'k-spite his goodness, or rather by his vo:ry goodness, sacrifice IDmething of the happiness ofindi\"iduaJ., 10 the conseT\-:ttion of the whok. I hdiel'e, I hope. I am worth more in the eres of God Ihan rhe earth of a planet; but if the planets arc inhabited, as is probablc, why would I be worth more in his eycs than all the inhabirams of Saturnl Onc has nkely turned Ihese ideas to ridieuk-; it is eeruin [hat all dIe analogies arc for this popula-tion, and that it is only human pride which might be against it. BllI this populJt io n being assu med, rhe conseH-:t tion of the univcrse seems to hal"e, for Go..! himself, ~ moral it)' which is multipli~J br the number of the il1Juhircd worlds.

That the cor~ of a man fttds somc worms, somc IIUI\"t~s, or somc plants i, not, I admit, a compensation for the death of this mal1;l11 bill if, in the system of the ulliwrse, it is n'-'::CS)',1.ry for the mnsefvJtion of the hUlll:1!l racc thar there be;1 circulation of suhstance among men, animals, and \'egctJtion, then the particular ill of an individual wnrributcs co the general good. I die, I am eaten by worms; but my children, my brothers willli __ e as I have lil'cd, and I do, by the oruer of nature, for all men, what Codrus. Currius, the Decii, the I'hilaeni, and ;1 thousand others did \uluntarily Jor a 5111;111 parI of men.11

To rclUrn, Sir, to the 5ystem that you ;1[1aek, I bdiel'e that one cannot examine il suiTably, without distinguishing ~";trefullr the particular evi l whose existence no Philosophcr has el'cr denied, from dIe general cvil that the optimist denies. It is not a question of knowing if cadI o ne of liS suffcTh or not; bm ifit were good that rhe universe has existed, and if our ills wer.' inevitable in rhe constitut ion of the unil"ersc. Thus rhe add ition of an article would tender, it seems, the proposition more exact; and in place of All is good, 22 it would perhaps Ix worth more to say: Tbc II"hole u good, or All u good fIJr the lI'ho/t. Then iT is quiTe el"ident that no man would be able to gil'e direct pn:xlis eirher for or against; lor rhese proofs depend 011 a Jxrfen knowledge of the con~tit\ltion of the world

1'1_, J V, /OIfi-w(5y

and of Ih~ purpos~ of its Author. :md this knowlcdg~ is incontclUbl), [x.-\'onel human inrelligene~. Thc lrtle pri"dl'k5 of optimism c~" bc dr.,,,,,, neither from the properties of m:lt{er, nor frol\llhe mech~nics of the ulli-"en;..:, bm onl" b" induaion from the pcrli.~lions of God who presides o\w all ;!'! in sudi ~ "01)' rhm one docs nOl pro\\~ the exislence of God by I he sy5telll of I'opc, but I he s~'5telll of Pope h)' I he e~i~rencc of God, .1I\d it is incumesr~bk rh~t from thc question of I'rovidetKe is deril'Cd that or t he origin of edL But if I hes

" Letter to Vo/mil"C

tJverns arc good there? llu~ pas.~erby grumbles om: night when they a~ bad. Jnd laughs the rest of his days at such an unbecoming impatience. COII/lllamlldi mim Nlltllm di)'fTwriuIII 'whir, mm (mhirlllldi dtdit.M,

To think rightly in this respect, it seems that things ought to be ~u11Sidcrcd rela tively in the physic~ 1 order, and ~bsoJu{

PI.. IV, /069-/072 59

l thous~nd suhjeets of preference anr.lct lIIe from the lIIost coll.'.olillg side and join the weight of hope to the equilibrium of re.l5Oll.

(I reca ll that what struck me the most forcefully in :1l1m)' lile, con-cerning the tortuitous arrang"'ment of the uni'"ersc. is the twentytirst philosophical thought. where is shown b)' the laws of lnal)'Sis of chance that when the 'luamiry of the th rows is infinite, the diflieuhy of the occurrence is more thall sufficiently compensated by the mulriplicity of throws, and that conscquem ly the mind ought to Ix more aSfOni.dled by rho.: hypothctical continuation of chaos than by t he real birth orthc uni vcrse. JO -TIl is is, while assuming 1110t iOll necessary, what Olle has 1l~l"Cr said wit h morc force to my liking cOllccming this disputc; and. as for me, I declarc that I do not know the least respon5C that common sense might have, wheth~r !TIlC, or fals

60 Lerter ((J Voltairr

the$

Pl., I V, 1072-107+

to catch it at iL~ S(>l!n'e; for t h ~ most s:l1lguinary Fanatics chang~ their laugu,lge nC~1: )rding!O tilflune, :Ind pre:lCh o nly patience .\lld gentleness when the,' are not the strongest. Thercforc I call inwler:Jnt by prin" ciples all)' man who inlJgines that one cannot Ix a good nun witholll believing everything that he bcli

Letter to Voltaire

\\'hell~e might these apparent ,:ol](radietions .:oml'! You yourself have cxplained it: you enjoy; but 1 hope, and hope embellishes all. 38

I h3\"e as much difficulty in IC3ving this tiresome lener a.~ you will haw in finishing it. I'Jrdon me, great man, for a zeal which is pcrh3J>$ indiscl1.-ct, but whkh would not tx \'c tm:d with )"ou, ifI esteemed you bs. God forbid that I would want to offend the one of my contcmpo-TJrics whose talents I honor thc mO.n, and whose writings speak best to my heart; but it concerns the cause ofPml"idellce from which I expect all things. ,\/icr having so lo ng dr.lwn lOnso1atiollS and courage from your lessons, it is hard for me that you should now rcmo\'e all that from mc, in order to offer me onJr an uncertain and \'ague hope, rather as a pre.scnt pJll iali\'e, th:11I as J compell5~tioll to come. No: I hJ\'e suflcrcd tOO much in this life not 10 expect frolll it another. All the subtleties of Metaphysics will nO! make me doubt t{)r a moment aoour the immormliryofthe soul and about a beneficent I'rol"idl'1lCe. I scnsc it. 1 beliel'e it, I want it, I hope it, I shall ddcnd it umil my last breath; and it will be, oral! the dispu[a-tions that I sha ll hal'e SUPP0rll-d, the only one where 111)' imerest willllO[ be forgotten.

J am, Sir, etc.