2022/10/02 by James Franklin · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Theology and Philosophy of Evil #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/14746700.2022.2124481
openalex publication_date 2022/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The essential idea of Leibniz's Theodicy has become one of the organizing themes of modern mathematics. Many phenomena are possible locally but for purely mathematical reasons impossible globally. For example, it is possible to build a spiral staircase that is rising at any given point, but not one that is rising at all points and comes back to where it started. The necessity is mathematically provable, so not subject to exception by divine power. Modern mathematics vindicates Leibniz's theory that, contrary to what we think we can imagine, there is no possible world better than this one.