Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story

by Jim Holt

And if he was seriously claiming that the universe sprang into being in answer to an ethical need for goodness, then could he explain why it has turned out to be such a disappointment, ethically and aesthetically speaking—howlingly mediocre when not downright evil?

For something to be valuable in itself, as opposed to being valuable as a means to an end, that thing must have unity.

The best museum on the whole is one that contains, in addition to the very best works of art, all lesser works, as long as those lesser works have some redeeming aesthetic value—as long, that is, as they are not positively bad.

Similarly, the best infinite mind is one that contemplates all cosmic patterns whose net value is positive, ranging from the very best possible world on down to worlds of indifferent quality, where the good barely outweighs the evil.

Moreover, the fact that the child doesn’t have a bowl of rice may very well be the result of a misuse of human freedom, and you can’t have the goodness of a world where agents are free to make decisions unless you also have the possibility that those agents will make bad decisions.”