Philosophy concepts and applications

Leibniz

According to Leibnez, God has the potential to envision, conceive, and create an infinite number of possible worlds. From this infinite potential God selects the best one(s) to create. Leibnez suggests that God uses reason to consciously select the world that has the fullest creative potential, the most multiplicity, and ultimately, the least amount of evil. Leibnez suggests that the world in which we live must have been the best possible world, because God would not have chosen otherwise to create it. In the Monadology, Leibnez characterizes God as being benevolent as well as omnipotent, and therefore surmises that this one is the best of all possible worlds. "Now, as in the Ideas of God there is an infinite number of possible universes, and as only one of them can be actual, there must be a sufficient reason for the choice of God, which leads Him to decide upon one rather than another," (Monadology Sect. 53).

As part of his proof, Leibnez shows that the world, however multiplicities or seemingly disorganized, is actually harmonious. An unlimited number of living beings enjoys full independence as well as harmonious interdependence. Leibnez describes harmonious interdependence as "connexion or adaptation of all created things to each and of each to all," (Mondadology Sect. 56). Moreover, the universe in all its multiplicity and seeming chaos exhibits remarkable parallelisms: each thing mirrors another, and ultimately all things are as "a perpetual living mirror of the universe," (Mondadology Sect. 56).

Therefore, for Leibnez the best of all possible worlds is one with as much diversity and as much order as possible: diversity plus order equal perfection. The philosopher's definition of "best" entails two separate qualifiers: one, that something is necessarily best because God declared it so, and two, that something is best because it is complex, diversified, and it functions harmoniously. Beyond the multiplicity of the best world rests a divine Monad, according to Leibnez.

Leibnez's assessment of God's creation is inherently flawed in that he presupposes a set of qualities for the deity. Human beings cannot possible know or understand the motivations behind God's creation, or even know for sure if God exists in the first place. If God does exist, then there is no way of knowing if God is benevolent, or even if God is benevolent he would be choose to create only one world out of an infinite number of potential alternatives. In fact, it is entirely possible that God has created the best of all possible worlds, but that we do not live in it.

However, if we take Leibnez's assumptions to be true, then it is easy to witness how our world could be the best possible one. The world in which we live does express many of the qualities that Leibnez describes as being "best," such as harmonious interrelatedness, parallelism, and paradoxical unity. The Earth is replete with an abundance of wildlife, the human brain is tantalizingly powerful, and based on consumer-based cultures, human beings also seem to be drawn toward the type of multiplicity Leibnez ascribes to the best of all possible worlds. Any evil that is evident in the world in which we live does not exist because this is not the best possible world but because of human folly.