Journal of Value Inquiry 39 (1):37-47 (2005)
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Abstract |
The concept of the best of all possible worlds is widely considered to be incoherent on the grounds that, for any world that might be termed the best, there is always another that is better. I note that underlying this argument is a conviction that the goodness of a world is determined by a single kind of good, the most plausible candidates for which are not maximizable. Against this I suggest that several goods may have to combine to determine the goodness of a world, and because of logical conflicts between them, the goods can be optimized to give a genuine best of all possible worlds.
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Keywords | Optimism Best possible world |
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DOI | 10.1007/s10790-006-6863-4 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and Against the Existence of God.J. L. MacKie - 1982 - Oxford University Press.
Incommensurability, Incomparability, and Practical Reason.Ruth Chang (ed.) - 1997 - Harvard University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Creation, Actualization and God's Choice Among Possible Worlds.Klaas J. Kraay - 2008 - Philosophy Compass 3 (4):854-872.
Leibniz's Best World Claim Restructured.William C. Lane - 2010 - American Philosophical Quarterly 47 (1):57-84.
False Optimism? Leibniz, Evil, and the Best of All Possible Worlds.Lloyd Strickland - 2010 - Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy 15 (1):17-35.
Leibniz’s and Herder’s Philosophy of Optimism.Vasil Gluchman - 2021 - Ethics and Bioethics (in Central Europe) 11 (1-2):37-47.
False Optimism? Leibniz, Evil, and the Best of All Possible Worlds.Lloyd Strickland - 2010 - Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy 15 (1):17-35.
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