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    The world is as good as possible despite the existence of... — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The world is as good as possible despite the existence of recalcitrant matter

    Natural Theology
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Reason has ultimate dominion over matter
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    • 2.Reason is a good principle that orders matter
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    • 3.Matter is recalcitrant but not fully sovereign
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The quantity and intensity of gratuitous suffering in sentient creatures exceeds what any optimizing rational principle would permit.
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    • 2.If reason truly had ultimate dominion over matter, recalcitrant matter would constitute a limit on reason's power, undermining the claim of dominion.
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    • 3.A world that is 'as good as possible given constraints' is not equivalent to 'as good as possible' without qualification, making the claim equivocate.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Leibniz's best-possible-world argument was refuted by Voltaire and Kant: the concept collapses if no upper bound on goodness exists.
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    • 2.Gnostic and Neoplatonic traditions themselves held that matter's recalcitrance reflects a metaphysically inferior demiurge, not an optimizing one.
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    Topics

    Natural TheologyProblem of Evil

    Connections

    2 topics

    Virtue Ethics1 linkedDivine Attributes1 linked

    Related

    A world that is 'as good as possible given constraints' is not equivalent to 'as...Gnostic and Neoplatonic traditions themselves held that matter's recalcitrance r...If reason truly had ultimate dominion over matter, recalcitrant matter would con...Leibniz's best-possible-world argument was refuted by Voltaire and Kant: the con...
    +4 moreShow less
    Matter is recalcitrant but not fully sovereignReason has ultimate dominion over matterReason is a good principle that orders matterThe quantity and intensity of gratuitous suffering in sentient creatures exceeds...

    Similar

    Therefore the material world is good despite matter itself being bad.79%The material world is good, not evil.73%A perfectly good God would create the best possible world73%The intelligible world exists because God exists.72%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: pythagoreanism
    View source passageHide passage
    Numenius presents his own doctrine of matter, which is clearly developed out of Plato’s Timaeus, as the work of Pythagoras (Fr. 52 Des Places). Matter in its disorganized state is identified with the indefinite dyad. Numenius argues that for Pythagoras the dyad was a principle independent of the monad; later thinkers, who tried to derive the dyad from the monad (he does not name names but Eudorus, Moderatus and the Pythagorean system described by Alexander Polyhistor fit the description), were t
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit