Panglossian (pronounced pan-glos-ee-uhn or pan-glaws-ee-uhn)
(1) A naïve or unreasonably optimistic view (can be used negatively, neutrally, or positively).
(2) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all possible worlds (can be used negatively, neutrally, or positively).
1758: From the character of the philosopher and tutor Dr Pangloss, in
Voltaire's (the nom de plume of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778)) satirical
novella Candide (1759), the construct being Pangloss + -ian. Pan
in this context is in the sense of “all”, the Modern English from the Middle
English panne, from the Old English panne, from the
Proto-West Germanic pannā, from the Proto-Germanic pannǭ. It was cognate
with the West Frisian panne, the Saterland Frisian Ponne,
the Dutch pan, the German & Low German Panne & Pann,
the German Pfanne, the Danish pande, the
Swedish panna and the Icelandic panna. Gloss
is probably from a North Germanic language, the influence perhaps the Icelandic
where the word was glossi (spark, flame) & glossa (to
flame) or the from the dialectal Dutch gloos (a glow, flare),
related to the West Frisian gloeze (a glow), from the Middle
Low German glȫsen (to smolder, glow),
ultimately from the Proto-Germanic glus- (to glow, shine),
from Proto-Indo-European gael- (to flourish; be green or
yellow); related to the modern glow. The Greek glōssa translates
literally as "tongue”. The –ian suffix is from the Latin -iānus (the
alternative forms were -ānus, -ēnus, -īnus & -ūnus);
it was used to which form adjectives of belonging or origin from a noun. Panglossian is an adjective and Panglossianism is a noun.
Voltaire's Dr Pangloss (an aptronym al la Mr Talkative & Mr Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan’s (1628–1688) 1678 Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress) was a construct of Pan in the sense of “all” and gloss in the figurative sense of something “superficially or deceptively attractive appearance”. The comparative is more Panglossian, the superlative most Panglossian; the most commonly used synonym is Pollyannaish (from the eponymous character in the 1913 novel by US author Eleanor H Porter (1868-1920); the little girl who no matter what misfortune befalls her, manages always to find something about which to be glad). Although a critique rather than anything hagiographic, Candide was very much a work of the Enlightenment, controversial and in some places, like the author, banned. Voltaire created Pangloss as a parody of the German philosopher Gottfried von Leibniz (1646-1716) who claimed this is the best of all possible worlds (there are those who blame Leibniz for starting the tradition of German philosophers going mad (eg Nietzsche, Weber and (at least debatably) Hegel)). Just to emphasize the point for English readers, some of the early translations subtitled: Candide: All for the Best (1759) & Candide: The Optimist (1762), the last re-used even in 1947.
While one of the seminal texts of the Enlightenment, Candide is also an irony-laden attack on the optimistic hopes and faith of Enlightenment thought. Voltaire’s criticism of Leibniz’s philosophy is directed mostly as his principle of sufficient reason, which maintains that nothing can be so without there being a reason why it is so, the consequence of which is the belief that the actual world must be the best one humanly possible. Later, structural functionalists would start in much the same place and reach other conclusions.
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