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Portrait of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Philosophy

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

1646–1716 · German

Rationalism

German polymath – philosopher, mathematician, diplomat and librarian – who invented the calculus independently of Newton and devised the notation still used today. In metaphysics he argued that reality consists of simple, soul-like substances called monads in a pre-established harmony, and in the Theodicy that ours is the best of all possible worlds, a view Voltaire satirised in Candide.

How to spot them

  • ▸Monads, which "have no windows"; pre-established harmony
  • ▸"The best of all possible worlds" and Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide
  • ▸Principle of sufficient reason; identity of indiscernibles (Leibniz's Law)
  • ▸Calculus priority dispute with Newton; binary arithmetic; librarian at Hanover

Key works

Discourse on Metaphysics (Discours de métaphysique) (1686 (published 1846))

Early summary of his metaphysics of individual substances and their complete concepts

New Essays on Human Understanding (Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain) (1704 (published 1765))

Chapter-by-chapter dialogue rebutting Locke's Essay and defending innate ideas

Theodicy (Essais de Théodicée) (1710)

The only book-length work published in his lifetime; reconciles God's goodness with evil: this is the best possible world

Monadology (La Monadologie) (1714 (published 1720))

Ninety short paragraphs setting out his metaphysics of monads

Key ideas

  • Reality is ultimately composed of monads: simple, unextended, soul-like substances whose states are perceptions
  • Monads do not causally interact ("monads have no windows"); their states correspond through a harmony pre-established by God, which also explains mind–body correspondence
  • Principle of sufficient reason: nothing is so without a reason why it is so and not otherwise
  • Identity of indiscernibles: no two distinct things can share all their properties (part of "Leibniz's Law")
  • God, choosing among infinitely many possible worlds, created the best of all possible worlds; evil exists because it belongs to that best whole
  • Truths of reason are necessary (their denial is contradictory); truths of fact are contingent and rest on sufficient reason

Quick-fire facts

  • •Born in Leipzig; died in Hanover, where he served the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg as librarian, historian and counsellor
  • •He developed his calculus in 1675–76 and published it in 1684, provoking a bitter priority dispute with Newton and his supporters
  • •The integral sign ∫ and the notation dx are his
  • •He developed binary arithmetic and built a calculating machine, the stepped reckoner
  • •He was the founding president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1700)
  • •His correspondence with Samuel Clarke (1715–16), Newton's ally, debated absolute versus relational space and time
  • •He dreamt of a characteristica universalis – a universal logical language in which disputes could be settled by calculation
  • •Voltaire's Candide (1759) mocks his optimism through the tutor Pangloss

Drill it — 10 cards

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Sources