Voltaire’s Dr. Pangloss had a panglossian perspective on life, meaning not merely was he optimistic about the way things are, but rather, held the view that the world, such as it is, is, in fact, the best of all possible worlds, that no better world could exist, concluding, “they, who assert that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they should say that everything is best.”
Embedded in this is a kind of determinism which assumes that nature always produces the ideal results (since God would have it no other way); thus, for example, our noses are perfectly “designed” for us to wear spectacles (which we inevitably do), or because our legs are so uniquely formed for the wearing of stockings, stockings fit perfectly.
The good Dr. P. has long been an object of derision; Voltaire himself was satirizing the optimistic conclusions of the German philosopher Leibniz, who addressed the so-called “problem of evil” by arguing that the actual world, even with all the terrible awful things that happen is, in fact, the best of all possible worlds that God could have created.
It’s a view that’s worthy of disdain to be sure, especially if you read the news for even a moment, but as Dada pointed out around the legal firepit last night, there’s a certain appeal to it that turns hopelessness into a kind of hopefulness that emerges from accepting that this is as good as it gets, so you might as well carry on without expecting anything more.
And indeed, a world that affords you the pleasures of bike riding through the woods and over metal paths across the cool and boggy wetlands of your city’s largest body of freshwater is surely one that’s right up there. And if it also gives you the opportunity to harvest a handful of American chestnuts and roast them in a crackling campfire to share with friends, then maybe it really is the best possibility of all.
Embedded in this is a kind of determinism which assumes that nature always produces the ideal results (since God would have it no other way); thus, for example, our noses are perfectly “designed” for us to wear spectacles (which we inevitably do), or because our legs are so uniquely formed for the wearing of stockings, stockings fit perfectly.
The good Dr. P. has long been an object of derision; Voltaire himself was satirizing the optimistic conclusions of the German philosopher Leibniz, who addressed the so-called “problem of evil” by arguing that the actual world, even with all the terrible awful things that happen is, in fact, the best of all possible worlds that God could have created.
It’s a view that’s worthy of disdain to be sure, especially if you read the news for even a moment, but as Dada pointed out around the legal firepit last night, there’s a certain appeal to it that turns hopelessness into a kind of hopefulness that emerges from accepting that this is as good as it gets, so you might as well carry on without expecting anything more.
And indeed, a world that affords you the pleasures of bike riding through the woods and over metal paths across the cool and boggy wetlands of your city’s largest body of freshwater is surely one that’s right up there. And if it also gives you the opportunity to harvest a handful of American chestnuts and roast them in a crackling campfire to share with friends, then maybe it really is the best possibility of all.
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