Despite a myriad of disasters in his lifetime, Leibniz – perhaps philosophy most famous optimist – maintained ours is the best possible world: varied, lawful, and happy. Might we in the 21st century plot a similar course through our own disasters and crisis, transferring Leibnizian optimism to the secular west? Although some have tried, their optimistic accounts unravel quickly, argues Lloyd Strickland.

Is our world the best possible world? It is a strange question at the best of times, but even stranger in the midst of a global pandemic. Despite this, many philosophers have asked this question and answered it in the affirmative.

To think that ours is the best of all possible worlds is also known as “optimism” in the philosophical sense of the term. The most famous proponent of this idea is the German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Leibniz never wavered from his optimism, despite a million lives being lost in the European wars of his time, as well as the natural disasters and bouts of plague.