- 01Preface
- 01Alphabetical contents from Preface to Envvy
Candide
by Voltaire · 1759 · 39 chapters · 24/7 tutor
Satire of optimism, violence, and institutions.
39Chapters
107Lessons
237Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Analyze Voltaire’s satire of optimism and human suffering
- Explain how the text critiques institutions and authority
- Identify major Enlightenment themes across the chapters and notes
- Interpret recurring motifs such as free will, destiny, and social hypocrisy
- Compare the work’s treatment of violence, religion, and morality
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 39
- Lessons
- 107
- Topics
- 237
- 01Magistrate's plea for divorce and remarriage
- 01Argument against clerical control of marriage
- 02Countess of Arcira's defense of wives
- 01Canon-law dispute over the adulteress
- 02Definition of an advocate
- 03Ancients and moderns debate
- 01Animals as feeling, learning beings
- 02Critique of theories of animal souls
- 01Animals' soul and materialism
- 02Early antiquity and national myths
- 03Fire, water, and barbarian migrations
- 01Newness of the arts and the antiquity of the globe
- 01Astrology and its apparent evidence
- 01Comparing atheism with idolatry
- 02Ancient religion and the usefulness of belief
- 01Reasons of the Worshippers of God
- 02Reasons of the Atheists
- 01Chance and planetary order
- 02Intelligence in animals and human beings
- 03Maupertuis on design in species
- 01Society of atheists and moral restraint
- 02Atheism, idolatry, and fanaticism
- 03Atheism among peoples and the causes of disbelief
- 01Critique of ecclesiastical authority
- 02Advice to authors
- 01Banishment and exile
- 02Bankruptcy and fraudulent insolvency
- 01Relative standards of beauty
- 02Moral actions and maxims as beauty
- 01Samuel Ornik and the bishop's worldly entourage
- 02Books and the power of reading
- 01Boulevart and the origin of bowling-green
- 02Bourges and the vanity of antiquity
- 03Brahmins and Indian sacred books
- 01Character as natural imprint
- 02Character shaped by body, age, and circumstance
- 03Limits of moral reform and cultivation
- 01Charlatanry of medicine
- 01Charlatanry as a political and religious tactic
- 02Charlatanry in science and literature
- 01Charlatanry in philosophy and history
- 02Commercial writing and book production
- 03Useful, clear civil laws
- 01Climate and religious customs
- 02Dogma, conversion, and religious change
- 01Common sense as plain reason
- 02Fear, prejudice, and religious belief
- 01Concatenation of events and fatal necessity
- 01Cause and effect in nature
- 02Genealogical chains of events
- 03Limits of universal influence
- 04The world’s contradictions
- 01Human Contrasts and the Disorder of Law
- 02Origins and Spread of Corn
- 01Cromwell’s rise from Puritan novice to public figure
- 02Military ascent and domination of Parliament
- 01Cromwell's diplomacy, absolutism, and religious hypocrisy
- 02Oliver Cromwell versus Richard Cromwell
- 01Richard Cromwell's refusal of power
- 02Contemptible customs do not always suppose a contemptible nation
- 03The relative vices of democracy and despotism
- 01Homer and the first idea of destiny
- 02Philosophical argument for immutable laws
- 03Replies to objections against fatalism
- 01Devout as a false title of superiority
- 02Limits of the ecclesiastical ministry
- 03The Church, clergy, and spiritual authority
- 01Symbolic language in antiquity
- 02Biblical emblems and allegory
- 01Shakespeare's mixture of grandeur and buffoonery
- 02Addison's disciplined tragedy in Cato
- 03The nature and uses of envy
- 01Natural equality and human dependence
- 01Rich and poor classes in society
- 02Equality, domination, and inequality
- 01Natural equality and social duty
- 02Ancient expiations and repentance
- 03Christian and papal tariffs for sins
- 01Tariff of dispensations and indulgences
- 02Using extremes to judge truth
- 01Ezourveidam and the origins of Adam
- 02Pico della Mirandola and Pope Alexander VI
- 01Faith, impossibility, and papal jesting
- 02False minds and false judgment
- 01What fatherland means
- 02Property, citizenship, and government
- 01Patriotism and the citizen of the world
- 02Final causes in nature and human organs
- 01Epicurus, design, and evidence of purpose in nature
- 02Debate on deception and religion
- 01Philosophers, Providence, and moral usefulness
- 02Locke’s analysis of free will
- 03Liberty as power of action
- 01Formation of the French language from Latin, Celtic, and Germanic sources
- 02Growth of French vocabulary and literary refinement
- 01Friendship as a tacit contract
- 02Dondindac and Logomacos on worship
- 01Definition of history
- 01First foundations of history
- 02Records and astronomical observations
- 01Ancient records and the limits of early history
- 02Writing, monuments, and the antiquity of nations
- 01Ignorance of origins and eternity
- 02Matter, light, and time
- 03Sensation and thought
- 01Human ignorance and suffering
- 02The impious and false images of God
- 01Joan of Arc's alleged miracles and prophecies
- 02Cauchon, the Inquisition, and the trial at Rouen
- 03Execution and later impostors
- 01Kissing in comedy and classical literature
- 02Kissing as greeting, worship, and betrayal
- 03Sacred kisses, Christian agapæ, and social customs
- 01Kissing customs and bodily danger
- 02Limits and origins of language
- 03Beauty, spread, and corruption of languages
- 01Animal governments and human laws
- 01Natural law versus human conventions
- 02Definition of liberty as power
- 03Will, reason, and the liberty of indifference
- 01The value of a great library
- 02The public library of the King of France
- 03Too many books, too little time
- 01Ancient books and early libraries
- 02Limits of the human mind
- 01Local crimes and regional morality
- 01Nature, animals, and human love
- 02The disease that corrupts love
- 03Heloïse, Abelard, and love after loss
- 04Luxury and Roman temperance
- 01Luxury as the fruit of conquest and commerce
- 02Luxury in great and small states
- 03Luxury, excess, and social propriety
- 01General reflection on human life
- 02Man in the Iron Mask
- 01Voltaire's rebuttal of rival identifications
- 02The iron mask as Louis XIV's elder brother
- 03Publisher's note on the twin-brother theory
- 01Marriage as a civic virtue
- 01Ardassan Ougli and the burden of masters
- 02Indian fable of the giant and the hunchback
- 03Origins of laws and government
- 04Men of letters and persecution
- 05Metamorphosis and metempsychosis
- 01Milton and the plagiarism accusation
- 01Defense of Milton against plagiarism charges
- 02Refutation of the charge that Mohammedan religion is sensual
- 01The mountain and the mouse fable
- 01Critique of religious superstitions and naked worship
- 02Natural law as the instinct of justice
- 03Property, theft, and the duties of natural law
- 01Dialogue between the Philosopher and Nature
- 01Nature as art and hidden laws
- 02Limits of human knowledge and first principles
- 01What is necessary to all men
- 02Common notions and religion
- 01Selim's reply on divine permission and crime
- 02New Novelties
- 01Philosopher as lover of wisdom and truth
- 02Confucius and practical moral teaching
- 01Greek and Roman moral philosophers
- 02Persecution of French philosophers
- 03Limits of omnipotence
- 04Critique of dualism and evil principles
- 01Prayers and divine immutability
- 01Critique of ancient philosophers and search for truth
- 02Prime author, eternal emanation, and divine necessity
- 03Ancient Oriental and Greek philosophical basis
- 01Prejudice as opinion without judgment
- 02Necessary prejudices and childhood instruction
- 03Sentiment versus prejudice
- 04Social respect and childhood fables
- 01Prejudices of the senses
- 02Physical prejudices
- 03Historical prejudices
- 01Religious superstitions and persecution
- 02Rarity, beauty, and admiration
- 01Nature's pleasures versus artistic masterpieces
- 02Law's system and the man who was always right
- 01Religious polemics against pope, doge, and mufti
- 02Natural religion and universal moral duty
- 03Vision of religious violence and plunder
- 04Sages of antiquity and moral exemplars
- 05Jesus on true religion and hypocrisy
- 01Universal religion of God and justice
- 02Critique of sectarian fanaticism and obscurity
- 01Self-esteem as natural vanity
- 02The soul as an unknown principle
- 01Limits of human knowledge about soul and matter
- 02Historical notions of the soul in philosophy and religion
- 03Church authority and the immaterial soul
- 01Locke on matter and thought
- 02Gassendi and Descartes on the soul
- 01Material soul and divine preservation
- 02Animals, instinct, and the soul
- 03Limits of knowing the soul
- 01Human ignorance of the soul
- 01Limits of human knowledge about mind and matter
- 02Warburton's paradox on the immortality of the soul
- 01Warburton’s syllogisms and criticism
- 02New Testament revelation of immortality
- 01Immortality of the soul and Roman skepticism
- 02Deformed children, monsters, and the soul
- 03Questions about souls in monstrous births
- 01States and governments
- 01Climate, laws, and the best state
- 02Superstition
- 01The nature and purpose of tears
- 02Feigning tears and theatrical pity
- 01Theist's belief in God and worship
- 02Tolerance as a law of nature
- 03Religious persecution and sectarian conflict
- 01Pilate and the meaning of truth
- 02Tyranny of one man and many
- 01Virtue as doing good
- 02Cardinal and divine virtues
- 01Virtue as beneficence toward others
- 02Cardinal and divine virtues
- 03Recluses, saints, and social usefulness
- 01Moral objections and exemplary rogues
- 02The repeated question of human evil
- 01Declaration of the admirers, questioners and doubters
- 01Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
- 01Acceptance of license terms and refund option
- 02Project Gutenberg trademark and permitted uses
- 03Public-domain copying and attribution requirements
- 04Local copyright law and international use
- 01Required license sentence and access conditions
- 01Reasonable fees and royalty payments
- 02Refunds, defects, and free-distribution compliance
- 03Permission for different distribution terms
- 01INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
- 01Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
- 02Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
- 01Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg · Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
01How many chapters are in the Candide course?
The Candide course has 39 chapters, each with its own lessons and topics.
02How many lessons are in the Candide course?
There are 107 lessons across the course, and you can ask your 24/7 tutor about any of them.
03Can I see what the Candide course covers before I start?
Yes. The full curriculum is listed on this page, beginning with "CARLTON HOUSE MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".
04Do I get a certificate for the Candide course?
Yes. Finishing the course earns a personal Cavua certificate of completion.
Keep exploring
View all LiteratureMore in Literature.
New
kenneth Orkin
MariaPrammaggio 2020 FilmFourthEditionACri
LiteratureBeginner
3chapters45m
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Cavua Seed Library
The Canterbury Tales
LiteratureBeginner
44chapters18h 54m
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Cavua Seed Library
The Awakening
LiteratureAll levels
9chapters4h 18m
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Cavua Seed Library
Gulliver's Travels
LiteratureBeginner
9chapters7h 6m
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Cavua Seed Library
The Oresteia
LiteratureIntermediate
13chapters2h 24m
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Cavua Seed Library
The Bacchae
LiteratureIntermediate
2chapters1h 54m
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
With membership
Or preview chapter 1 free
Updated Oct 2026
Learn with AI
Ready to start this course?
Create your account to enroll, talk to your 24/7 tutor, and track your progress — across every device.