126. That problem of evil

Previous - 125. Books for Living

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Candide - commentary

We start with an excellent summary by Robert M. Adams of "The Intellectual Backgrounds" which covers the philosophical/theological arguments that shaped Voltaire's thought. (This would also be useful for anyone reading The Brothers Karamazov.) We start with our old friend the Problem of Evil. This is probably the most stubborn problem for the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Where does evil come from?

This section starts with the Manichees (the world is divided between good and evil); then Saint Augustine (we have the freedom to struggle against the apparent evil of this period); Blaise Pascal (we see evil because of our flawed nature); Pierre Bayle (who reasserts Manicheism at the end of the 17th century); Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (see Pangloss); Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury (similar to Leibniz but based on "natural instincts"); Bernard Mandeville (contra Shaftesbury argues that man is inherently vicious and selfish); Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke (reasonable men can reach all the truth they need by studying natural religion); Alexander Pope (similar to Pangloss, "partial evil" is actually "universal good" though we have a hard time seeing it); Jean-Jacques Rousseau ("Providence works, not for the benefit of this or that individual, but through general laws to which we must reverently submit"); the Marquis de Sade (screw it, God is evil, or better -- the distinction between good and evil is specious).

Vertigo

It's possible that reading three books at the same time, and this book over a very long period of time, with a long break in the middle for bronchitis, is not conducive to getting the most out of this particular book. Starting the second chapter I now see that this and the last chapter share the same narrator and this makes clear at least some of my confusion. He is rambling around Europe, from England to Vienna to Italy and then back to England to, "...help me get over a particularly difficult period in my life...." 

His description of his time wandering aimlessly around Vienna has the feeling of a David Lynch film. I wonder to what extent this is autobiographical, or if it might be at least in part based on dreams, as is usually the case with Lynch.

So far (not very) rereading this is like taking a trip by day that you have previously only taken at night while drifting in and out of sleep. 

Another odd thing about this book is that it includes very poor quality photographs and other images. It would appear his editor might have said, "Do you have a photo of x?" and he responded, "I do. I'll make a cheap photocopy at the corner store and then fax it to you." And his editor said, "Perfect." 

Next - 127. Time in dreams