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by Joe Otten 1314 days ago +0 votes Hmph, I don't agree with the use of 'Panglossian' to mean extremely optimistic. Pangloss - from Voltaire's Candide - was based on Liebniz, particularly his suggestion that this is the best of all possible worlds, because God would not have made a world any worse. But surely if this is the best, then nothing better is possible, and so this is a very pessimistic point of view. [reply]

by Alix 1314 days ago +0 votes Yes, they really mean "Candidian" since it was Candide who had the naive optimism, though I've never heard that word used. Similar to how people have transferred "Frankenstein" from the monster's creator to the monster. [reply]

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