The book of Steven Nadler, The Best of all possible World. A Story of Philosophers, God and
Evil gives an account of the philosophical discussions among Leibniz, Malebranche and Arnauld
about the freedom of God and the problem of evil. Starting from an imaginary encounter
of the three philosopher in Paris, Nadler reconstructs the complex web of intellectual
relations between Leibniz and Malebranche about the Theodicy, between Malebranche
and Arnauld about the Treatise on the nature and grace, and between Leibniz and Arnauld
about the Discourse of metaphysics. From this reconstruction emerges a sketch of the controversy
in which Leibniz’s and Malebranche’s conceptions of God are characterized by the
primacy of the intellect over will, whereas Arnauld’s conception of God, according to Descartes’
perspective, states the absolute freedom of God’s will. According to Nadler, Arnauld’s
battle against Malebranch’s and Leibniz’s rationalist conception of God is subterraneously
guided by his feeling of great proximity between these conceptions and the position
about God expressed by Spinoza in the Ethics: a God without will and understanding, a
power that simply produces the world in a necessary, meaningless way.
