The best possible world

I first came to Leibniz through Voltaire (back in the Dark Ages of 1st year philosophy) and was alway perturbed by his assertation that this is the best possible world (not reading Leibniz at that time but only Voltaire). How could this be the best possible world when it really is quite shit? However, in preparation for a presentation that I am doing on 'The Fold,' I have been reading Deleuze's lectures on Leibniz and am much happier with what I find. If the "best possible world" is not one made through the choice of what would be best for us humans and is instead the aim of God to create the greatest continuity then it is far more interesting. No doubt my error was so easy to make because my intuitions on the concept of God were embedded in anthropocentricism. God doesn't care about me or you or our suffering, we are nothing when it comes to his grand plans for the beauty of continuity. Isn't that interesting? So Leibniz is having a renaissance in the world of glueboot. Once again I'm not doing what I 'should' be doing (reading Heidegger and Levinas) but this seems to be much more fun.

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