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It's understandably difficult to pin one set of values to the Philosophes because their range of ideas, opinions, and beliefs were so wide. Not all Philosophes emerged from a kind of social-activist mold. Voltaire, for instance, was a harsh critic of Enlightenment optimism, but he didn't share Rousseau's claim that the arts and sciences were nothing more than "garlands of flowers [thrown] on iron fetters." (Kramnick 363) Similarly, although the idea of a perfect God creating …

…to endure such pains, you'd never have arrived here. This, of course, presumed that 'here' was somehow preferable to any other state that he'd already been in. Candide answers cryptically: "But we must tend our garden." (Voltaire 120) This alludes to the idea that, perhaps, explaining why good and evil exist-and whether or not they should-isn't as important as acknowledging their existence, and trying to live one's life to the fullest, regardless of an irrecoverable Eldorado.