Objections and Responses

Every philosophy worthy of consideration must survive its strongest critics.

The arguments presented in this book invite serious objections, and rightly so. A thesis this large deserves adversaries this sharp. What follows are not definitive answers, but honest responses to the strongest questions that arise—beginning with the ones most likely to defeat the book entirely.

When Leibniz argued that God had created the best of all possible worlds, Voltaire answered with Candide: he marched his optimist through earthquake, war, slavery, and plague, and let the wreckage speak for itself. Is this book not vulnerable to the same satire? Does it not stand amid the rubble of Lisbon declaring that all is well?

The objection deserves a direct answer.