The Best of All Possible Lectures.
- Lecture.mp3
- Listen in iTunes
- Listen on Stitcher
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Candide is a philosophical book directed against the
then-popular philosophy of optimism.
Optimism is the attempt to construct a theodicy that explains
the evil in our world by arguing that it is the best world
possible. Candide points out that the philosophy
of optimism is actually quite pessimistic and encourages
passivity in response to evil, since any action would make
things worse. They finally encounter a wise man who
make a twist on the deist idea that God is a clockmaker and the
universe his clock. In this version, the universe is a
great ship and God its captain. When the captain is
guiding the ship through a storm, does he care what happens to
the rats in the bilge? Of course, humans are those
rats. Ouch.
Here's a documentary
you'll enjoy.
And remember when you evaluate the class that I am the best of
all possible professors because if I could teach better, I would
teach better.
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