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optimism, the theory, in philosophy, that the world is the best of all possible worlds or, in ethics, that life is worth living. It is derived from the Latin optimum (“best”). The philosophical view may involve theodicy, or argument to justify God as creator of the world, and it was with reference to the Théodicée of Leibniz that the French Jesuits of Trévoux coined the word optimisme in 1737 and that Voltaire used it as the subtitle to his Candide (1759). The ethical theory was much discussed with the spread of atheistic philosophies in the 20th century and found a notable defender in Albert Camus (Le Mythe de Sisyphe, 1942).

(Read Peter Singer’s Britannica entry on ethics.)

This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.