Is the world inherently good or is it something to be shunned?

World is neither good nor bad. World just is. It is us who pick sides and categories things in to boxes.

Having said that, world is a place where nothing is guaranteed nor safe. How easy or hard life is there is always a struggle. But still everything eventually falls apart. Sometimes this is communicated as a bad deal and one that we should get out of. But this is neither good nor bad. Just the nature of world. It make life hard for those who are not enlightened.

Is the world inherently good or is it something to be shunned?

No, not necessarily.

When you ask a question like "Is it this extreme, or is it that extreme?" then the answer is often "No". Remember what's said about the Middle Way.

it seems clear that this world is to be abandoned

I think it's teaching that greed is to be abandoned.

I'm not sure that it's saying, exactly, that we're literally eating a son's flesh -- only to have that kind of attitude, of eating not for pleasure but for necessity.

It may be trying to teach Nibbida.

And Piya Tan writes about this sutta that:

The Sutta‘s Commentary explains that the Buddha gives this teaching because the monastic order has been receiving an abundance of gifts and honour (lābha,sakkāra), and that some of the monks are not using their requisites with proper reflection. Indeed, the situation is so urgent that the Buddha is represented as giving this teaching as "the fifth rule of defeat" (pañcama pārājika), that is, a rule which when broken entails automatic defeat or fall from monkhood. To prevent this, he places before the monks (by way of this teaching) "a mirror of the Dharma" (dhamm’ādāsa) for their self-restraint. Constantly reflecting on this teaching, they would use the four requisites—almsfood, robes, shelter and medical requisites—with restraint (saṁvara) and proper limits [strictly defined relationships] (mariyāda).

In Buddhism, there is the notion that we can use a skillful technique or theme of thinking, which is the best technique or theme of thinking that it is suited for a particular situation, for a particular purpose, to cater for a particular need. Some of these techniques may be mutually exclusive or contradictory to each other.

It is just like how a master chef uses various techniques to craft the best results based on the needs. Sometimes you need to boil, sometimes you need to bake, sometimes you need to fry, sometimes you need to broil, sometimes you need to grill and sometimes you need to sautee. These techniques may appear to contradict each other, but are used at different times to achieve different results.

First example:

For overcoming lust (as a hindrance of sensual desire), you can use the contemplation on unattractiveness (see this question). But too much of it may lead to negative thoughts of suicide, in which case, use the mindfulness of breathing (see this answer) to counter it.

Second example:

The Buddha taught that not everything we experience is caused by what we did in this answer. This is the Buddha teaching anatta, so that we can let go of the self-view.

Again, when the Buddha was asked by the naked ascetic Kassapa whether suffering was of one's own making or of another's or both or neither, the Buddha replied "Do not put it like that." ... He then said "Kassapa, if one asserts that 'He who makes (it) feels (it): being one existent from the beginning, his suffering is of his own making,' then one arrives at eternalism. But if one asserts that one makes (it), another feels (it); being one existent crushed out by feeling, his suffering is of another's making,' then one arrives at annihilationism. Instead of resorting to either extreme a Tathaagata teaches the Dhamma by the middle way (by dependent origination)".

But in some cases, for other practitioners, it might be useful to think that we are the creators, owners and heirs of our kamma. The Themes Sutta has many examples of different themes of thinking and what problems can be resolved by such ways of thinking. One of those is to think that what we experience is caused by what we did, in order to eradicate unvirtuous habits.

“And for the sake of what benefit should a woman or a man, a householder or one gone forth, often reflect thus: ‘I am the owner of my kamma, the heir of my kamma; I have kamma as my origin, kamma as my relative, kamma as my resort; I will be the heir of whatever kamma, good or bad, that I do’? People engage in misconduct by body, speech, and mind. But when one often reflects upon this theme, such misconduct is either completely abandoned or diminished.

Now back to your question ...

Based on this, I would say that thinking of the world as disgusting and to be abandoned is a technique to be used if you're addicted to the pleasures of the world. But if you're depressed and negative about the world, then its useful to think about the world as being beautiful and harmonious but it's only your thinking that's the problem.

What is the inherent nature of the world? It is neither good or bad, or ugly or beautiful. It simply is conditioned (sankhara) and impermanent (anicca) i.e. everything in the world is always changing being influenced by other things.

This is also corroborated by physics - everything in the universe changes, influenced by everything else, including space, time, matter and energy. These can be seen in the consequences of General Relativity and Special Relativity, e.g. curvature of space-time, time dilation, gravitational waves and, equivalence of matter and energy.

In most Mahayana Buddhism schools, the inherent nature of the world is emptiness. See this answer for details.

Tibetan schools of Mahayana are pretty clear on this: our experience of the world is projection of our mind. So when the mind is afflicted, in various ways - it sees the world as bad or ugly, in various ways. As the mind is purified of afflictions and obscurations, it sees the world as increasingly harmonious and beautiful. This matches my personal experience, going both up and down in my mind states.

The Sakya school even has this notion of "three views" or "three visions" - "the state of those experiencing suffering, those engaged in the methods leading towards freedom from unhappiness and misery, and those fully enlightened ones who have attained the highest goal of omniscient awakening".

The Nyingma interpretation of Buddhist cosmology is very much phenomenological and keeps hinting at how an experience of the world relates to observer's mind.