Panglossianism

The idea of Panglossianism assumes that the world as such and its systems develop towards the best possible state with a certain determinism .

Panglossianism assumes an absolute functionalism , according to which everything without exception serves a specific purpose.

The explanatory approaches and theories of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology are assigned by critics to Panglossianism.

The term panglossianism goes back to Voltaire's character Pangloss in the satire Candide , ou l'Optimisme (1759). The figure sees himself as a student of Leibniz 's optimism. However, this optimism in Voltaire's satire seems absurd and unjustified in the face of countless calamities.

Individual evidence

↑ Todd Grantham and Shaun Nichols, Evolutionary Psychology: Ultimate Explanations and Panglossian Predictions . In: Valerie Gray Hardcastle (ed.): Where Biology Meets Psychology . MIT Press , Cambridge (Mass.) 1999, ISBN 978-0-262-58174-5 , pp. 47-66 .
↑ Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin : The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Program . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society . 205, No. 1161, September 1979, pp. 581-598. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.1979.0086 .

[1] Todd Grantham and Shaun Nichols, Evolutionary Psychology: Ultimate Explanations and Panglossian Predictions . In: Valerie Gray Hardcastle (ed.): Where Biology Meets Psychology . MIT Press , Cambridge (Mass.) 1999, ISBN 978-0-262-58174-5 , pp. 47-66 .

[2] Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin : The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Program . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society . 205, No. 1161, September 1979, pp. 581-598. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.1979.0086 .