In ''Candide'' (1759), his chief work, Voltaire criticized a philosophical theory which was popular at the time, best expressed by [[Leibniz]], that stated the world was in its best possible state because it was in God's hands. To illustrate this point, he follows the story of Candide as increasingly terrible things happen to him until he loses his optimistic view of the world and his [[Christianity|faith]]. | In ''Candide'' (1759), his chief work, Voltaire criticized a philosophical theory which was popular at the time, best expressed by [[Leibniz]], that stated the world was in its best possible state because it was in God's hands. To illustrate this point, he follows the story of Candide as increasingly terrible things happen to him until he loses his optimistic view of the world and his [[Christianity|faith]]. |