On the Ultimate Origination of Things

An endlessly copied geometry book, and Leibniz's argument that the reason for the world lies outside it.

by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz15 passages held

Latin, the original language

Original title: De rerum originatione radicali
First published: 1840(published posthumously)
Original language: Latin

Overview

Suppose, Leibniz wrote, that a book on the elements of geometry had always existed, each copy made from an earlier one. Every copy would be explained by the one before it, and still nothing would explain why there was such a book at all, or why it says what it says. The world is the same: go back through its states as far as you like and you will not find in them the reason why there is a world, or why it is this one. That reason has to lie outside the series, in a being whose existence needs no further reason. Leibniz then pictures the choice among possible worlds as a contest. Every possible thing strives toward existence in proportion to the reality it contains, and what exists is the combination through which the most reality gets in, by the rule of the greatest effect for the least cost. He does not deny that the world looks full of suffering, but asks the reader to judge the whole rather than a fragment, and closes on the claim that the universe keeps advancing toward greater cultivation without end. The manuscript carries his own date, 23 November 1697, and was evidently meant for the Leipzig Acta Eruditorum, but it never appeared there; the German editor J. E. Erdmann printed it first in 1840. Scholars still argue over how literally to take its striving possibles, which sit awkwardly beside the God who chooses the best.

Key concepts

What is the geometry-book argument?

Leibniz’s case for a reason outside the world. Suppose a book on the elements of geometry had always existed, each copy made from an earlier one: every copy is explained by the one before, yet nothing explains why there is such a book at all, or why it says what it says. The world’s states, traced back without end, leave the same gap.

What are the ‘striving possibles’?

Leibniz’s picture of creation as a contest: every possible thing strives toward existence in proportion to the reality it contains, and what exists is the combination through which the most reality gets in. Scholars still argue over how literally to take it, since possibles that strive on their own sit awkwardly beside the God who chooses the best.

What is the rule of the greatest effect for the least cost?

The rule by which, in the essay, the combination of possibles that exists is selected: the most reality obtained for the least expense. It explains why this world, among all the possible ones, is the one that exists, and makes the choice of a world look less like a decree and more like the solution of a problem.

What does Leibniz mean by the world advancing toward greater cultivation?

The essay’s closing claim that the universe does not merely hold its perfection but keeps advancing toward greater cultivation without end. It belongs with his reply to the suffering the world shows: a reader judging a fragment sees less than the whole, and a reader judging one moment sees less than its direction.

Themes of the book

What this book returns to, gathered into themes and ordered by how much of the text each one occupies.

A Geometry Book Copied Forever

Could a world that had always existed explain itself? Leibniz imagines an endlessly copied geometry book to show why it could not.

Suppose a book on the elements of geometry had always existed, each copy made from an earlier one. Every copy is explained by the one before, and still nothing explains why there is such a book at all, or why it says what it says. Go back through the states of the world as far as you like and the same gap remains: none of them gives the reason why there is a world, or why it is this one. That reason must lie outside the series, in a being whose existence needs no further reason.

sufficient reason
cosmological argument
contingency
necessity
existence
causation
eternity
god

Enter a dialogue

Possibles Striving Toward Existence

How is one world chosen out of all the possible ones, and what is to be said about the suffering in it? Leibniz pictures a contest, then asks the reader to judge the whole rather than a fragment.

Every possible thing, Leibniz writes, strives toward existence in proportion to the reality it contains, and what exists is the combination through which the most reality gets in, by the rule of the greatest effect for the least cost. He does not deny that the world looks full of suffering. He asks for judgement of the whole rather than of a fragment, and closes on the claim that the universe keeps advancing toward greater cultivation without end. Scholars still argue over how literally to take the striving possibles, which sit awkwardly beside the God who chooses the best.

perfection
possibility
best possible world
creation
essence
suffering
evil
appearance and reality
progress
happiness
divine providence