The Best of All Possible Worlds

Resumen del libro

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?

The Best of All Possible Worlds 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.

Biografía del autor

Filósofo estadounidense especializado en el pensamiento filosófico de la temprana modernidad, en especial Descartes y los cartesianos, Spinoza y Leibniz. Profesor en la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison, ha sido profesor invitado en las universidades de Stanford, Chicago, y en la École des hautes études en sciences sociales de París. En 2007 fue docente de la cátedra Spinoza de la Universidad de Ámsterdam. En 2020 fue elegido miembro de la Academia Americana de Artes y Ciencias. Entre sus veinte libros y ediciones, cabe mencionar, entre los más recientes, The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Story of Philosophers, God, and Evil (2008, 2010), The philosopher, the Priest, and the Painter: A Portrait of Descartes (2013), el volumen colectivo a su cuidado, Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philoshophy (2014) y Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die (2020). En castellano se conoce su biografía de Spinoza (2021).