Confused by Alexander Pope

[StephenBales]

“All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.
And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, 'Whatever is, is right.’”
-Alexander Pope

Well that seems odd. Can anyone explain the italicized line? What does that mean, that “partial evil” is “universal good”? Pope was raised and remained a Roman Catholic, but this seems contradictory to the faith. Unless anyone can elaborate?

 

[ratio1]

this seems contradictory to the faith

Can you elaborate how this is contradictory?

 

[StephenBales]

Well, for example, should Jesus have bowed to Satan while he was being tempted in the desert, that would have been an evil in exchange for a good. An arguably very good good, as Jesus would have explicit, visible governmental kingship over all the Earth. But, I may be misunderstanding what the original quote is saying; perhaps Jesus’ bowing to Satan would not have been a partial evil at all, but very much completely evil, and so I suppose this is the part I don’t understand. What exactly is a “partial evil”? And what makes a partial evil a universal good?

 

[ratio1]

Oh whoops. That’s not how I read this. Maybe I’m wrong.
But I thought it meant
All partial actions (ie being partial to someone or somethings) are evil. Universal (or being impartial) actions is good.
I thought this was quite deep philosophically.

As humans we tend to be partial in a lot of things. God is of course universal in his Love.

 

[StephenBales]

Ohhhhhh, I see what you mean. Partiality in the sense of nepotism, or positive bias, or other types of prejudice, not partial like a fraction. Okay, I think I understand it now, and the whole thing certainly seems to make more sense!

 

[ratio1]

The issue I see now is was God being partial in picking Israelites as Chosen people?

I think we can still get around this.

 

[StephenBales]

Good point. I’m more confused than when we started
But I think it may be a nonissue, at least for us as Christians. Partiality in the OT because they were chosen as a light to the world. Fulfilling the same role as a priest to Mass, but on a much larger scale than the local parish lol. Not so much partiality today. “First to the Jew, and then the Gentile…”

 

[ratio1]

I think the answer may lie in God’s perfect knowledge. Perhaps God knew that only Abraham would respond to his call. So God is not being partial because even if He offered to other people they would refuse.
That’s one way out of this.
So God is still universal, it’s just other people rejected Him.
Same thing with Noah. God wasn’t being partial to Noah, it’s because Noah responded to God.

 

[StephenBales]

I think we’ve got it

 

[PickyPicky]

I think not. Pope is explaining that because we cannot understand what God purposes, what seems bad to us is really just part of God’s good plan (Whatever is, is right).

So what looks like random chance is really directed; what seems like discord is just a harmony we haven’t understood; what seems to be partly evil is really a part of universal good.

 

[kill051]

This is from the Essay on Man, one of my favorite works by Pope. The whole poem is worth reading; this is perhaps the most famous extract from it. I believe the italicised bit refers to God’s ability to turn any evil to a good purpose. After all, if you think about it, all evil is partial. If it weren’t, the universe would be Hell, with no room for God, and that’s not the case.

 

[ratio1]

So what looks like random chance is really directed; what seems like discord is just a harmony we haven’t understood; what seems to be partly evil is really a part of universal good.

Yes this is the correct interpretation. Oops.

Does that mean any evil can potentially explained away as partial and that it is actually part of a broader plan of universal good?

So evil is not absolute? When it’s part of a universal good is it still evil?

I’m happy to rethink random chance as Gods direction. I’m happy to rethink discord as Gods plan of harmony. As OP said I’m not so sure I can label evil as not really evil because it’s part of a greater good.