I was in college the first time I read Candide. I don’t think the professor mentioned that Voltaire was a philosopher. Nor did he mention the reason Voltaire wrote the story to begin with. My impression at the time was that Candide was just a story of misfortunate events. I had no idea Voltaire was pushing back against the philosophers on the continent and that Candide was a big F.U. to them. He had a good imagination, that’s for sure.