Theory of Good by Wilhelm Leibniz - Essay Example

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a famous German rationalist philosopher who not only made contributions in the field of philosophy but alsoin the field of ethics, physics, mathematics, theology ad logic. He was born in 1646 and lived up to 1716. He proposed many theories to support his work and some of these included the theory of truth, the natural law theory and the theory of the good. He was a man of great vision and he gave a theory regarding the calculus which is now the basis for modern computers. He made contributions to all the fields in which he worked that are in the field of engineering, when he was a physicist and also when he was a librarian. Leibniz in his lifetime proposed theories relating to God and made a derivation from every theory he proposed. He is also known to be the father of calculus and the basic founder of the technology known as computer. Leibniz in his lifetime proposed a theory known as 'the theory of good'. This theory gives the basic facts about goodness while relating it to the God. Leibniz put in his own perceptions and came out with the theory of good which is now famously applied by many people. This theory has come into many criticisms; however some people are still in the favor of this theory. This article would further discuss the theory of good according to the facts given in by Leibniz and would give in a conclusion after assessing the theory. One of the very important theories Leibniz put in was the theory of good which was the basis for the ethics of Leibniz. This theory revolved around the basis of goodness and how it was affected. This theory was again laid upon three basic principles which were according to Leibniz's words hedonism, Platonism and perfectionism. Platonism basically signifies that goodness is correlated to reality, hedonism relates good to satisfaction and gratification whereas perfectionism implies to fastidiousness that is one should try to achieve precision in one's character. But with all these three principles there is a co existing form of malevolence. With the abstract good there is the wrong associated when there is defiance of reality. With the ethical good there is malevolence of bad and evil. And in the hedonism which is then related to the evil of pain. In constructing his theory of good and relating abstract good with abstract malevolence Leibniz has taken assistance from the work of Augustine, Boethius, Plotinus and in the theory of Plato Leibniz has given a clear cut view in his theories that everyone and everything is not equally perfect. He states that it is only God who has immeasurable and unbounded perfection and faultlessness. God is the creator of everything and he has given his creations varying amounts of perfection. To give his creations complete exactness and divinity like Himself would be like the creation of another God by Him and this is not how the universe has been based. The universe has been based on His principles and thus with His creations God has given everyone his own boundaries and limitations that are to be followed by everyone. This clearly means that everyone is not equally perfect and thus Leibniz is trying to explain that precision and flawlessness is not based on the law of none and all. It comes in different amounts. Thus it is clear that everything except God, including the universe has its own flaws. A common concept of Leibniz is that the flaws suffered by all the things on this universe are made by the God himself. He is basically describing his theory of good by relating it to the power of God and his flawlessness. As described by Leibniz, every single thing on this planet has some flaws. For e.g. one human being cannot be perfect in whatever action he does. As is said in one famous quote "no one is perfect". Leibniz here clearly is relating this object of flaws found in the things made on the universe with reality. Over here another worldly example may be considered that everything that has been invented by the modern technology also has some limitations as we may consider that the best drugs that we get in the market may also have its side effects and also as is the case with computers which on one hand provide us with the facilities that we have never been provided but again it has its own drawbacks. Leibniz proposes that to deny the facts of real life and everything that is true is a sin and is included in a wrong deed because to deny reality is to actually deny self existence. He believes that everything except God is imperfect and so a human being should believe in the fact that nothing except God is perfect in all respects, and if he denies this it means that he is simply not believing that in his own existence and also in the Sovereignty and divinity of God. According to Leibniz these confinements in human beings make them distinct and separate them out from each other. He tries to explain that these limitations are not actually shortcomings but these are the factors that make a person stand out from others and these are given to him by God so that he may be able to differentiate and find out what actually is he made for and what are the things that he is good at. Thus it makes a person know his qualities and how he may distinguish himself from others. Each and every person in this world is made by God for an aim and every person in this world is made by God to set out a moral for others. And according to Leibniz every individual has one quality which makes him different from others. Similarly every individual has some flaws which again make him different from others. For e.g. some people are good at learning while some are not. God is creating each and everything in this universe to fulfill a reason. For e.g. earth is a planet made for the human beings, earth here fulfills the requirement of place for the human beings. However the planet earth is also made with flaws by God himself. This can be seen in the short amount of raw materials which have been created for these individuals to live. Leibniz further describes that God is taking a test out of every individual in this world. For e.g. by creating limited amount of resources for these individuals he wants them to use them efficiently and accordingly. But if a person denies this it is a state of self loss for him. Similarly Leibniz describes the state of individuals living in this world. He describes that God has sent every individual with a special quality to fulfill the short comings of the others. He states that all these differences in the individuals created make them realize each others importance teaching them that they need to stay together fulfilling each others shortcomings. Abstract exactness and precision always runs along with peace. Everything is interdependent and thus all things are supposed to run together with each other in peace otherwise it would lead to a hap hazard and unstable condition. Over here we may consider the example of an office that is to run a proper administration all the staff members have to be punctual and they have to work with each other sorting out issues together because all the work that they do would be interconnected. Thus keeping this example in mind if perfection does not run with peace and accordance with each other it will lead to a very disturbing situation. Another point that we might note over here is that these interconnections lead to the distinction of different things and make one thing stand out from the other. Leibniz's theory actually tries to connect this peace and love with the surroundings to the development of good values in human beings. Leibniz through his theory is urging people to develop morals and ethic in themselves. He further explains the importance of ethics in an individual's life. He tries to explain that when a person starts to realize the importance of the existence of other human beings he actually realizes his own gratification and his own importance and thus this leads to the development of values within a person. A person then not only realizes the importance of others but also of himself and he learns how to live with others and what good ethics and morals actually are. Thus this leads to the reshaping of his personality. It means that the moral construction of a human being is not an inborn quality but these are learnt by him from his surroundings. For the inner development of a person it is necessary for him to believe in truth and reality. Thus Leibniz is trying to emphasize that the values and morals that a person develops within him are because of what he observes and sees. Peace and agreement with nature and acceptance of other's existence develops values within a human being. Leibniz describes that God is the Supreme power and he treasures all of His creations equally. He has mercy for all of them and what He decides everything for them and what He thinks is flawless because He is the Lord of everything and He is perfect. IT is God who creates a person gifting Him with certain qualities which may differentiate him from another being. It is a famous quote that God loves a person 100 times more than his own mother does. Seeing these examples human beings should try to learn from these. They should try to develop the same thoughts for their fellow beings accepting their good qualities and try to look over their own shortcomings and learn from others. They should cherish and try to love others. The acceptance of other's high merits and perfections is the best thing that a fair and sensible person would do. This would not only teach a person to live in relation with others but it will also teach a person to be fair and just in his decisions. The more a person adores others and the more he feels happy in others happiness the more would he be fair and just and the more he would attain self satisfaction. This will also bring a person close to his creator. Leibniz believes that the highest good is in the form of pleasure. This pleasure is attained by love for others and the realization of the fact that no one except God is perfect. This can be achieved by people if they let go their personal greed and satisfaction and start believing in the sole flawlessness of the God. Here Leibniz is comparing pleasure to the belief in God. He urges people to have faith and belief in God as this belief would further save them from dangerous things. This belief would help in creating good values in an individual. For the creation of good values in you appraisal for others and believing in one's own capabilities as well as a sensible approach towards others and accepting their good qualities is a must. This can only be attained through wisdom and intelligence and knowing everything that goes on in the universe. When a person knows about all these things then only can he be happy and develop good values and achieve main things in his life. Believe in God, strong will, love for others, love for the universe, all these things make a person attain real happiness and one who strongly understands all these things would be a very sensible and wise person. However the story in the real life is quite different to this theory as nowadays people are doing the opposite. They love the things which can only satisfy them in this world and are ignoring the flawlessness of God. We can therefore say that love, affection and truth about everything is a condition for happiness and shaping of a person's good character. But it must be added that these are just conditions to attain values. The most important think is a person's mind and what he thinks. For example if everyone would stop thinking and they would have no brain, then how would they be able to develop sense and knowledge of others For proper living, happiness and development of values in a person knowledge, proper thinking and sense is a compulsion. Without these the universe would be in a haphazard and unstable condition with no realization and acceptance for others thus giving everything a very bad shape. to clarify it light can be put on the quote of Leibniz in which he said: "One must hold as certain that the more a mind desires to know order, reason, the beauty of things which God has produced, and the more he is moved to imitate this order in the things which God has left to his direction, the happier he will be."This quote of Leibniz summarizes his theory in a nutshell. Through this quote it can be clearly seen that Leibniz is trying to urge people through his theory to have a strong belief in God's flawlessness and accept the facts of how things have been developed by him. Thus it may be concluded that happiness may not be achieved by any one thing. if a person loves God but has no love for His creations then he would never be satisfied or if a person adores others but does not believe that everything is inter related then also his happiness would be incomplete. The more a person denies the existence of others, the existence of the Supreme Being and his flawlessness, the acceptance of others values the more there would be creation of evil and this would lead to his instability. Thus a person should not only believe in all these but he should also have a high level of knowledge and sense of thinking and he should also try to mould himself according to the order of the universe, this would then provide him with the happiness and would also give him peace and stability in his life. This theory of good provided by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz should not only be understood but it should also be acted upon and always kept in mind if a person wants to actually know the real meaning of happiness and if he wants to achieve real peace in his life. However on the other hand this theory of good has been criticized by many people. It has been said that the theory of good is entirely based on the principles of Leibniz's life and includes all his doings. It does not take reality into matter and puts in an individuals perspective without analyzing the exact reality. But in my view the theory of good is a platform for every individual to apply and be followed by everyone to succeed in life. The basic derivation from this theory is that the flawlessness of God should be realized. Bibliography Leibruz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Theoduy: Essays on the Goodness of God and the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Roger Ariew, and Daniel Garber. Philosophical Essays. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co, 1989. MacDonald, Scott Charles. Being and Goodness: The Concept of the Good in Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991. Read More