And I only read the Monadology. But apparently its the only thing by Leibniz one really has to read, unless they intend to become a scholar of his work.
'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
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Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#12> A key to Leibniz’s view is symmetry of creation. The best only emerges against the worst, the beautiful against the ugly, the harmonious against the dissonant. Leibniz's surviving corpus is massive and sprawling (far larger than any other member of the Republic of Letters) so it could be that i haven't read whatever this is a reference to, but I don't recognise this sense of balance. For Leibniz as i understand him…
The balance idea sounds like misremembered Hegel. I think the best of all possible worlds theory should be seen for what it is: an attempt to reconcile the idea that a perfect god made the world with its observable imperfections. It’s intellectually more satisfying than the “fallen world” idea which just leads to more questions, and it remains compatible with mainstream Christian doctrine.
If you want to reject mainstream Christian doctrine that’s fine, but it’s not what Leibniz was trying to do.
In any event, his most lasting influence isn’t even in the realm of philosophy. Dude was a genius.
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#13> In such a way, Leibniz, to cite Milton, dared to “justify the ways of God to men.” Voltaire responded with a snarky misreading that exploited the undeniable empirical fact that evil was not balanced by good in the lives of every discreet individual. But Leibniz made no such claim. The best world was optimized as a whole, containing just as much good and evil as was required for the totality of creation. I like this…
I think you and Voltaire are thinking along the same lines. Both are a rejection of a bloodless utility maximisation creed on the simple basis that human morality just doesn’t work that way.
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#14And I only read the Monadology. But apparently its the only thing by Leibniz one really has to read, unless they intend to become a scholar of his work.
Try this: Discourse on Metaphysics https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/leibniz1686d.pd...
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#15My understanding was that Leibnitz was a pivotal figure in the ideas behind early computing. Didn't see that mentioned in the article so much.
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#16> Leibniz challenged “humanity to participate in the work of striving toward perfection,” > Because the world is the creation of a perfect being, it can achieve only the “best possible” state short of divine perfection. That's a lot of presumptions: That the creator is perfect, there is even a perfect, what I (Leibniz) call perfect is the god's/gods' perfect, ... while not giving a frame of reference. I find this a c…
> with logic
It's actually deductive, application of logic: given some concept, develop the theory it generates (the set of its consequences). The "rationalist" way.
The real context may not necessarily be that of "beliefs" (of doctrinal beliefs as an object... Possibly as a subject, instead).
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#17> In such a way, Leibniz, to cite Milton, dared to “justify the ways of God to men.” Voltaire responded with a snarky misreading that exploited the undeniable empirical fact that evil was not balanced by good in the lives of every discreet individual. But Leibniz made no such claim. The best world was optimized as a whole, containing just as much good and evil as was required for the totality of creation. I like this…
> and Voltaire responding with
Like a very long joke, which builds and builds and builds and builds, the punchline in the end arrives.
It's in the last sentence: "Yes, but you have to work for it". (I.e. he intended to stress an outer point.)
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#18history keeps repeating, so often that there is no tragedy left, just farce
i give it 5 more years till hegel becomes popular. 10 more years till dialectical materialism and dictatorship of proletariat
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#19> Leibniz challenged “humanity to participate in the work of striving toward perfection,” > Because the world is the creation of a perfect being, it can achieve only the “best possible” state short of divine perfection. That's a lot of presumptions: That the creator is perfect, there is even a perfect, what I (Leibniz) call perfect is the god's/gods' perfect, ... while not giving a frame of reference. I find this a c…
Replace "perfect" with "likely optimal" and you get the general thrust of it without the deus ex machina.
"Because the world is the creation of a likely optimal being, it can achieve only the “best possible” state short of divine likely optimisation"?
If understood in a very mystic transcending meaning of "creation" maybe, otherwise it reads still like dogma to me.
Re: 'The Best of All Possible Worlds' Review: Leibniz Lives Again
#20> Leibniz challenged “humanity to participate in the work of striving toward perfection,” > Because the world is the creation of a perfect being, it can achieve only the “best possible” state short of divine perfection. That's a lot of presumptions: That the creator is perfect, there is even a perfect, what I (Leibniz) call perfect is the god's/gods' perfect, ... while not giving a frame of reference. I find this a c…
Yes, you must have assumptions to apply logic in the first place. I don’t mind it, even if I have different assumptions.