i got confused with these lines.. can any one help?

[ghoti]

HEllo


i read this by Schopenhauer:

"For possible means not what we may picture in our imagination, but what can actually exist and last. Now this world is arranged as it had to be if it were to be capable of continuing with great difficulty to exist; if it were a little worse, it would be no longer capable of continuing to exist. Consequently, since a worse world could not continue to exist, it is absolutely impossible; and so this world itself is the worst of all possible worlds." from wikipedia


did he mean that the world is arranged as to be continued forever... but because there it is little worse the world won't continue forever and won't last? So there is nothing possible, it is impossible because of the reference to "worse"

[prickly_pete]

Where does get one though? Saying this is the worst world that could possibly exist? Should we all hop in our time machines and move off to some other galaxy? Completely worthless if you ask me - nothing more than mental masturbation.

[Panglossian]

It seems that ol' Arthur hadn't factored in the possibility of parallel universes ...

[G L Wilson]

It sounds sound to me.

[The Atheist]

HEllo


i read this by Schopenhauer:

I'm not surprised, it's simple fallacy.


"For possible means not what we may picture in our imagination, but what can actually exist and last.

Here he says that only the materially possible is possible.

The man's a genius.


Now this world is arranged as it had to be if it were to be capable of continuing with great difficulty to exist; if it were a little worse, it would be no longer capable of continuing to exist.

No.

And not just wrong, but completely meaningless. The world isn't arranged according to anything. What "great difficulty" is there in existence? Life is amazingly abundant and robust on earth, as evinced by several major global extinctions, yet still billions of different species alive.

It is therefore obvious that the world could be much, much "worse" yet life would continue.

Palpable nonsense dressed up as intellectualism.

Plain awful.


Consequently, since a worse world could not continue to exist, it is absolutely impossible; and so this world itself is the worst of all possible worlds."

And in the end, he goes from fallacy and ignorance to a statement of blinding absurdity. From a factual perspective - never popular in philosophy - I could argue this is the best of all possible worlds, but as noted above, it's merely an ignorant fallacy anyway.



did he mean that the world is arranged as to be continued forever... but because there it is little worse the world won't continue forever and won't last? So there is nothing possible, it is impossible because of the reference to "worse"

What he's trying to say is that the world could not be any worse, yet still be a world, instead of a dead rock.

Fortunately, he was full of crap.

:D

[G L Wilson]

Best of all possible worlds/ worst of all possible worlds - what does it matter? The principle is the same.

[Panglossian]

I'm sure if Schopenhauer were here on these forums he'd have something to say about this cut'n'paste job.

[Nietzsche]

HEllo


i read this by Schopenhauer:

"For possible means not what we may picture in our imagination, but what can actually exist and last. Now this world is arranged as it had to be if it were to be capable of continuing with great difficulty to exist; if it were a little worse, it would be no longer capable of continuing to exist. Consequently, since a worse world could not continue to exist, it is absolutely impossible; and so this world itself is the worst of all possible worlds." from wikipedia


did he mean that the world is arranged as to be continued forever... but because there it is little worse the world won't continue forever and won't last? So there is nothing possible, it is impossible because of the reference to "worse"



The first sentence is basically the opposite of "you can do anything you can dream of."

He's more or less saying No, you can't. Schopenhauer is a pessimist, after all, though I think its true that you can't do anything.

The rest of it he is saying the world couldn't be any worse, or else it wouldn't exist at all. The world meets the bare requirements to not die. Oh how he would have loved to know that Mars atmosphere went away and suffocated any microbial life on the planet.

The last sentence I believe is referring to worlds with life. He's saying it would be impossible for this to be a life sustaining world if it were any worse, so it already is the worst of life sustaining worlds...

[G L Wilson]

Life doesn't get any better when we are happy but it sure as hell can get worse.

[Saladin]

For me it seems like Good Old Arthur was making "fun" of Leibniz.

[G L Wilson]

For me it seems like Good Old Arthur was making "fun" of Leibniz.

It's possible.

[Crass the head]

lol schopenhaur's pessimism is so great. awesome quote. I think he's simply saying that if the world were any worse, it wouldn't exist because it would be more fragile and vulnerable. Thus, the world is as awful as it can possibly get.

[G L Wilson]

To quote Lucretius, "This is hell."

[V.Jayalakshmi]

Mr.Ghoti,

Read NIETZSCHE's explanation.Now have you understood what is written by
SCHOPENHAUER?

[PSRemeshChandra]

Contributor 'Nietzsche' above said it right when he said that 'The world meets the bare requirements to not die. Oh, how he would have loved to know that Mars' atmosphere went away and suffocated any microbial life that might have been on that planet.' In all the planets in the Solar System and in almost all the known Galaxies, even if air and atmosphere was produced, the mass of the planets were not exactly corresponding to the gravity, or their distances from the centre of the system were not apropriate, enough to retain the atmosphere and air that might have been produced. The position, mass and gravity of Planet Earth was such strategically arranged that it alone was blessed with an atmosphere and air so that the evolving life forms can breath and exist. In fact it is a very precarious and delicate arrangement which scientists cannot refute but philosophers who walk before science leading it alone can make expositions on. 'The Cambridge Book of Astronomy' has elaborated on this strategic, favourable and lucky positioning of Planet Earth.

[G L Wilson]

Pessimism doesn't meet with reality.