Relevance: Prelims/Mains: G.S paper III: Economy
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das recently stressed the importance of “mood” and “sentiment” when talking about the Indian economy.
What RBI governor said?
- Despite the reports of job losses and deepening slowdown in many sectors, a mood of doom and gloom is not going to help anyone.
- It doesn’t mean we maintain a Panglossian countenance and smile away every difficulty. There are several opportunities amid the challenges we face today and we should address the challenges and look ahead with greater confidence.
- A Panglossian way of life is one of extreme optimism, in which you are convinced whatever happens is for the best, and hence make no effort to change it.
Background: Leibniz’s theory
- The expression refers to Professor Pangloss, a character in Candide, ou l’Optimisme (translated into English as Candide: Optimism), a satirical novella published by the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire in 1759.
- Voltaire created the exaggerated character of Pangloss to mock the extreme optimism advocated by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German philosopher a few years his senior.
- Leibniz’s theory was that a benevolent God created this world, the best possible one that He could have created.
- Voltaire on the other hand, believed that if this were indeed the case, earthquakes, famines and other non-benevolent things wouldn’t occur with the regularity that they did.
Who was Pangloss?
Professor Pangloss was a character in Candide, ou l’Optimisme (translated into English as Candide: Optimism), a satirical novella published by the French Enlightenment philosopher François-Marie Arouet a.k.a. Voltaire in 1759.
Pangloss was convinced that “all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”, an idea that he also taught his young student, Candide.
A Panglossian way of life is one of extreme optimism, in which you are convinced whatever happens is for the best, and hence make no effort to change it.