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Gottfied Wilhelm von Leibniz

Page history last edited by Andrea Brownstein 15 years, 7 months ago

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)

 

German philosopher, mathematician, historian and jurist, contemporary of Newton (1642-1727), with whom he feuded bitterly over the invention of calculus. Although Gottfried Leibniz left behind no philosophical magnum opus, he is still considered to be among the giant thinkers of the 17th-century. Leibniz believed in "pre-established harmony" between the outer world and maind, and developed a philosophy of Rationalism by which he attempted to reconcile the existence of matter with the existence of God. Bertrand Russell wrote that Leibniz's intellect "was highly abstract and logical; his greatest claim to fame is as an inventor of the infinitesimal calculus."

 

…if we were able to understand sufficiently well the order of the universe, we should find that it surpasses all the desires of the wisest of us, and that it is impossible to render it better than it is, not only for all in general, but also for each one of us in particular… (from The Monadology, 1714)

Leibniz believed that God is all-powerful and morally perfect, hence, of necessity, whatever possible world created by God is the best possible world. Whatever states of affairs obtain in it, they do so of necessity. It has often been said, that Leibniz's optimism was later ridiculed by Voltaire in Candide (1759), but the real target was possibly Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), a philosopher and scientist, whose writings attracted wide attention at that time. In Candide, after guiding his protagonist through a number of disasters, Voltaire showed justifiable the question that if God cannot make a better world that the one we know, is his powers or goodness limited? However, Leibniz intended a metaphysical concept that applied to a world of absolutely fixed, predeterminated order. From Candide's last remark, "We must cultivate our garden", one may conclude that Voltaire considered work far more profitable than metaphysical speculations. - "Whatever is, is right" - see Voltaire

Or, as poet Alexander Pope wrote:

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All change, direction which thou canst not see;

All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good.

And, spite of pride, in erring reason spite,

One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

For more information on Leibniz' s many other accomplishments, go to the source of this page: http://www.helsinki.fi/~mroinila/frames_index.htm

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