Rationalism, Skepticism, and Romanticism were three primary philosophical schools of thought during the Enlightenment. How does Voltaire relate to...

's
is a quintessential :  there is hardly a paragraph that does not express
ridicule. The main focus of this ridicule is the Optimism of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz
based upon a syllogism that since God created the world and since God is perfect, therefore the
world is perfect. In his assessment of the foolishness of this philosophy, Voltaire has his
characters experience almost every kind of misfortune possible, yet they emerge believing that
there is a reason for everything and the world is good. In Chapter XI, for instance after
Pangloss has lost and ear and a nose to the ravages of syphilis, he justifies all his
misfortune:

...it is an indispensable feature of the best
of all possible worlds, a necessary ingredient: for if Columbus, on an island off the Americas,
had not contracted this disease- which poisons the source of all procreation, and often even
prevents procreation, contrary though this be to natures great plan- we would have neither
chocolate nor cochineal....

In the end, Candide
decides in Chapter XIX that being optimistic is "a mania for insisting that everything is
all right when everything is going wrong."

Along with criticizing
Optimism, Voltaire expresses much of the philosophy of Skepticism promulgated by David Hume, who
questioned religion and this philosophy of a perfect God.  Hume asked why such a perfect God
would create an imperfect world. Furthermore, Hume expressed the belief that mankind is
fallible, an idea which brings into question all truths that man holds. As he questions
Optimism, Voltaire at times has his characters exemplify the tenets of Rationalism. For
instance, while the friends are in the utopia of Eldorado, Candide complains that Lady Cunegonde
is not there and he wants to leave. But, the king of Eldorado reasons, "It's a foolish
thing to do...when a man is fairly well off somewhere, he ought to stay there." However,
the Romantic Candide, who is given to his personal and emotion musings about Cunegonde, rejects
this reasoning and, as Voltaire writes, "...the two fortunate men decided to be fortunate
no longer."