The Best of All Possible Worlds: A story of philosophers, God, and evil in the age of reason
Author(s): Steven M. Nadler
In the spring of 1672, German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz arrived in Paris, home of France's two greatest philosopher-theologians of the period, Antoine Arnauld and Nicolas de Malebranche. The meeting of these three men represents a profoundly important moment in the history of philosophical and religious thought. In The Best of All Possible Worlds, Steven Nadler tells the story of a clash between radically divergent worldviews. At its heart are the dramatic - and often turbulent - relationships between these brilliant and resolute individuals. Despite their wildly different views and personalities, the three philosophers shared a single, passionate concern: resolving the problem of evil. Why is it that, in a world created by an all-powerful, all-wise, and infinitely just God, there is sin and suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people, and good things to bad people? This book brings to life a debate that obsessed its participants, captivated European intellectuals, and continues to inform our ways of thinking about God, morality, and the world.
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The Best of All Possible Worlds is a wonderfully engaging book. Nadler, with his characteristic clarity, has produced a true and rare philosophical page-turner. -- Michael Della Rocca, Yale University
The centerpiece of this intellectual history is a vicious late 17th-century debate between three unlikely combatants... Nadler's superb study makes for a larger space for Leibniz, Malebranche, and Arnauld alongside such giants of the period as Descartes and Spinoza. Publishers Weekly I can't imagine a better guide to 17th-century philosophical thought. -- Michael Dirda Washington Post Book World Why did a loving God create a world marred by so much evil? In three seventeenth-century intellectuals who wrestled with this question, Nadler recognizes how a single inquiry can profoundly engage markedly different minds. -- Bryce Christensen Booklist
Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of "Rembrandt's Jews", a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, as well as "Spinoza: A Life and Spinoza's Heresy".
Preface ix Chapter 1. Leibniz in Paris 3 Chapter 2. Philosophy on the Left Bank 23 Chapter 3. Le Grand Arnauld 52 Chapter 4. Theodicy 78 Chapter 5. The Kingdoms of Nature and Grace 108 Chapter 6. "Touch the Mountains and They Smoke" 141 Chapter 7. The Eternal Truths 184 Chapter 8. The Specter of Spinoza 217 Epilogue 241 Notes 255 Bibliography 281 Acknowledgments 287 Index 289
General Fields
- :
- : University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton
- : Princeton University Press
- : 0.371
- : 01 March 2010
- : 216mm X 140mm X 20mm
- : United States
- : books
Special Fields
- : Steven M. Nadler
- : Paperback
- : 214.09032
- : 320
- : illustrations
