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Leibniz's optimism

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http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publicatio...of-leibniz

EXCERPT: [...] Leibniz is one of the most impressive figures in the history of modern science, mathematics, and philosophy. It seems impossible that one individual could accomplish all that he did. [...] The motivating force of Leibniz’s life’s work was his optimism, which grew out of his philosophical and theological convictions. It is perhaps best understood as the optimism of a scientist who believed not only that science was going to get the truth but also that the truth was something worth getting for its practical and moral benefits.

[...] Notwithstanding all his other accomplishments, what Leibniz became most famous for in the popular imagination after his death was his claim that this world was the best of all that are possible. The statement would surely not have become as well known as it did were it not for Voltaire’s mockery of it in Candide, and one may be inclined to agree with Voltaire that Leibniz’s point deserves ridicule. But Leibniz was being neither flippant nor blindly optimistic; rather, his optimism deserves careful analysis, as it helps shed light on his understanding of science and its moral implications.

The statement originates in the only book Leibniz published during his lifetime, a volume that explores the vexing question of how God can be good and just and all-powerful if evil and injustice and suffering exist. (We now call this the problem of “theodicy,” after the title Leibniz gave this little volume.) In the book, Leibniz defines “world” as “the whole succession and the whole agglomeration of all existent things, lest it be said that several worlds could have existed in different times and different places. For they must needs be reckoned all together as one world or, if you will, as one Universe.” In this world, everything is dependent on something else for its existence — so that in order for the whole world to exist, a first cause must have brought it into being. But an infinite number of worlds were “equally possible,” so that in creating this world, the first cause must have been able to consider all other possible worlds. This first cause, being “infinite in all ways” — including in power, wisdom, and goodness — must have chosen the best of all possible worlds.

It is a point of interpretive controversy how close to perfection Leibniz believed the best world comes. While most think that Leibniz considered it to be good in absolute terms, both metaphysically and morally, at least one commentator, Matthew Stewart in The Courtier and the Heretic (2006), considers Leibniz to be “in fact one of history’s great pessimists,” who recognized the vanity of striving for progress in this world that is ultimately indifferent to our desires. Truth — the noble aim of philosophy and the sciences — remained ineffective in politics, and Leibniz understood, according to Stewart, that some measure of deception, both in politics and in theology, seemed necessary for achieving good. If theology demands the conclusion that this is the best of all possible worlds, the harsh reality of political life makes clear that “best” would simply mean that the other worlds would have been even worse than this one. But this cynical view of Leibniz’s optimism requires not only an excessively imaginative and tortuous reading of some of his most important works; it would also seem to be undermined by the dedication Leibniz brought to several other efforts, including especially his project to advance all the sciences, which we will return to shortly. A proper understanding of this project reveals that Leibniz’s philosophical and theological optimism in fact shaped his vision of advancing the sciences, and that his political and ecumenical work was often aimed at furthering that end.

Leibniz made clear that he did not mean that the best world is composed only of the best parts, just as “the part of a beautiful thing is not always beautiful.” While some aspects of the world may not seem good in themselves, they are part of a whole that is better than all the alternatives. No part could in fact have been other than it is, neither better nor worse, since then the world would no longer be as it is, and this world is the best, having been chosen by an infinitely wise God.

For instance, as Leibniz explains, “it is true that one may imagine possible worlds without sin and without unhappiness, and one could make some like Utopian ... romances: but these same worlds again would be very inferior to ours in goodness,” because humans, being free to act, are able to choose between good or evil, and “there is no rational creature without some organic body, and there is no created spirit entirely detached from matter,” subject to pain and decay. To be free and to be both spirit and matter is good, even if this condition allows for evil and unhappiness. For sometimes “an evil brings forth a good,” and it is a false maxim “that the happiness of rational creatures is the sole aim of God.” God’s creation is immense, and human beings make up only a tiny part of it, spatially and temporally; what makes us unhappy may well contribute to the good of the whole or to other creatures. Those who nevertheless criticize God’s creation, Leibniz writes in Theodicy, should receive the following answer:

"You have known the world only since the day before yesterday, you see scarce farther than your nose, and you carp at the world. Wait until you know more of the world and consider therein especially the parts which present a complete whole (as do organic bodies); and you will find there a contrivance and a beauty transcending all imagination. Let us thence draw conclusions as to the wisdom and the goodness of the author of things, even in things that we know not. We find in the universe some things which are not pleasing to us; but let us be aware that it is not made for us alone. It is nevertheless made for us if we are wise: it will serve us if we use it for our service; we shall be happy in it if we wish to be."

Some have objected that if this is the best possible world then it would already be paradise and there would be no reason to hope for a better world after this, and the grace of God for salvation would be obsolete. But this is to misunderstand Leibniz’s position. He strongly affirms the orthodox doctrines that sin is real and that grace is needed for redemption. A given day or age is not necessarily the best possible, nor is our life on earth. While the world as a whole is the best possible, improvement of individual parts is in fact at the heart of Leibniz’s concern. In the sciences, in philosophy and theology, and in politics, he always aimed to improve the human condition....




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