Relation to oneself· Existence
Metaphysical optimism
Axis: Tonality of reality — Is the world fundamentally good, or marked by the tragic?
Reality is fundamentally ordered and oriented toward the good: evil is only a local shadow within a harmonious or progressing whole. Even the trials of history take part in a rationality that surpasses them.
Movements 2
Show inferred positions (2)
Taoisminferable
The Taoist universe is fundamentally benign and trustworthy for whoever attunes to it: nourishes all things without possessing them, and the spontaneous order of the world provides of itself once humans stop thwarting it. Evil and disorder spring from human forcing, not from a flaw in the cosmos: there is here a deep trust in the order of things.
Laozi, Dao De Jing, ch. 34, 51 · Laozi, Dao De Jing, ch. 73
Epicureanisminferable
The world is not tragic for the Epicurean: nature, rightly understood, supplies all that happiness requires, for what is necessary is easy to obtain and what is hard is not necessary. Without a benevolent providence, the universe nonetheless remains hospitable, which warrants a measured optimism about the possibility of a serene life.
Epicurus, Principal Doctrines, XV and XXI · Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, book V
Philosophers 8
Leibnizexplicit
Nothing happens without a , not even creation: if God brought this world into being rather than another among the infinity of possible worlds he conceives, it is because his wisdom and goodness led him to choose the one that realizes the maximum of perfection with the least means, the best of all possible worlds. Evil is therefore not a refutation but a calculated part: God permits it where it conditions a greater good of the whole. This optimism answers the scandal of evil by turning an objection against providence into a consequence of divine perfection, the reasoning would mock in Candide through Pangloss.
Theodicy, §8-10 and §225 (the best of all possible worlds) · Discourse on Metaphysics, §3 (God does everything in the most perfect way)
Show inferred positions (7)
Senecainferable
The universe is governed by a rational and benevolent : all that happens conduces to the good of the whole, and what seems an evil is but a trial or an appearance. This trust in the divine order of the world is a metaphysical optimism, far from any tragic vision of an indifferent cosmos.
On Providence, I-II (nothing evil can befall a good man)
Hegelinferable
Despite the slaughter-bench of history, the world is at bottom rational and ordered toward the good: evil and suffering are moments that the whole and reconciles. The reconciliation (Versöhnung) of spirit with actuality, not resignation to the tragic, is the last word of the system.
Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Preface · Lectures on the Philosophy of History (Lectures)
Epicurusinferable
The universe, infinite in atoms and worlds, is neither hostile nor tragic: once the fears of the gods and of death are dispelled, nature offers all that is needed for happiness, the good being easy to attain. This therapeutic optimism, where happiness is within everyone's reach, sets aside the tragic vision without lapsing into a benevolent providence.
Letter to Menoeceus, 122 and 133 (accessible happiness, the sage and fate) · Principal Doctrines, XXVII-XXVIII (friendship and confidence)
Laoziinferable
The world is not ruled by a benevolent providence: "heaven and earth are not benevolent, they treat the ten thousand beings as straw dogs," with the indifference of an impersonal process. Yet this impersonal course is not tragic: whoever accords with it finds peace, and the alternation of opposites ensures no extreme lasts. It is a serene, unillusioned tonality rather than a metaphysical optimism.
Dao De Jing, ch. 5 · Dao De Jing, ch. 2 and 58
Lucretiusinferable
The universe infinite in atoms and worlds is neither good nor evil, nor made for us: indifferent, it offers neither a consoling providence nor a tragic hostility. Once the fears of the gods and of death are dispelled, nature suffices for happiness, the good being easy to attain. Yet this therapeutic optimism keeps company with an acute sense of the world's fragility, itself doomed to come undone, which holds back any cosmic enthusiasm: a sober optimism, without the tragic but without providence.
On the Nature of Things, II, 1090-1174 (nature without gods; the declining world)
Marcus Aureliusinferable
The providential world is fundamentally good and ordered, which places Marcus on the side of metaphysical optimism: all that happens befits the whole. But his unceasing contemplation of vanity, flux and oblivion lends that order a melancholy hue which holds the position well short of a 's serene optimism.
Meditations, II, 3 · Meditations, IV, 23 · Meditations, IV, 32
Zhuangziinferable
The world is not ruled by a benevolent providence and has no meaning given in advance: it is an impersonal flux of transformations without design. Yet this course is in no way tragic for Zhuangzi: whoever accords with it finds in it a causeless joy and a freedom of play, for death itself is but a turn of the wheel. The tonality is serene and carefree rather than optimistic or tragic, which leans slightly toward a happy welcome of the real.
Zhuangzi, ch. 18 (Perfect Happiness) · Zhuangzi, ch. 6 (The Great Source as Teacher)
The view from aboveExerciseAttested · Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius trained himself to contemplate his life and troubles as if seeing them from high in the sky, at the scale of the whole of nature. This widening of view restores worries to their true size and tempers both pride and despair. Today it offers a moment of distance from a conflict or annoyance that seems to fill everything.
- Sit quietly and close your eyes. Breathe slowly a few times.
- Imagine rising above the room, then the city, then the Earth seen from space.
- From that height, observe the multitude of human lives, past and future generations, the vastness of time.
- Place your current worry within this picture: what room does it really take up?
- Descend gently and return to your task, keeping this regained sense of proportion.
Putting things in perspective is not denial. This exercise eases disproportionate worries but should not be used to minimize real suffering or an injustice that calls for action.