The Best of All Possible Worlds?

If you were designing the world would you have done it this way? Probably not. But in the eighteenth century some people argued that theirs was the best of all possible worlds. ‘Whatever is, is right,’ declared the English poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744). Everything in the world is the way it is for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inA Little History of Philosophy p. 93
Main Author Warburton, Nigel
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Yale University Press 25.10.2011
Subjects
Axiology
Behavioral sciences
Bestselling books
Communications
Communications media
Disasters
Earthquakes
Epistemology
Ethics
Evil
Health and wellness
Health sciences
Modal realism
Morality
Natural disasters
Normative ethics
Optimism
Personality
Personality psychology
Personality traits
Philosophy
Print media
Psychology
Public health
Social sciences
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Summary:If you were designing the world would you have done it this way? Probably not. But in the eighteenth century some people argued that theirs was the best of all possible worlds. ‘Whatever is, is right,’ declared the English poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744). Everything in the world is the way it is for a reason: it’s all God’s work and God is good and all-powerful. So even if things seem to be going badly, they’re not. Disease, floods, earthquakes, forest fires, drought - they’re all just part of God’s plan. Our mistake is to focus close up on individual
ISBN:9780300152081
0300152086