The Cambridge Companion to LeibnizNicholas Jolley A remarkable thinker, Gottfried Leibniz made fundamental contributions not only to philosophy, but also to the development of modern mathematics and science. At the center of Leibniz's philosophy stands his metaphysics, an ambitious attempt to discover the nature of reality through the use of unaided reason. This volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the full range of Leibniz's thought, exploring the metaphysics in detail and showing its subtle and complex relationship to his views on logic, language, physics, and theology. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
G W Leibniz Life and works | 18 |
The seventeenthcentury intellectual background | 43 |
Metaphysics The early period to the Discourse on Metaphysics | 67 |
Metaphysics The late period | 124 |
The theory of knowledge | 176 |
Philosophy and logic | 199 |
Philosophy and language in Leibniz | 224 |
Leibniz Physics and philosophy | 270 |
Leibnizs ontological and cosmological arguments | 353 |
Perfection and happiness in the best possible world | 382 |
Leibnizs moral philosophy | 411 |
The reception of Leibniz in the eighteenth century | 442 |
| 475 | |
| 494 | |
Common terms and phrases
According to Leibniz activity aggregate argument Aristotelian Aristotle Arnauld Cartesian cause century claim complete conceived concept conservation contingent truths corporeal substance cosmological argument definition Descartes Discourse on Metaphysics discussion distinct divine doctrine Dynamica Essays essence example existence explained express follows force G VII God's Hobbes human idea identity of indiscernibles II.i important individual substance infinite laws of motion Leib Leibniz argues Leibniz says Leibniz wrote Leibniz's Metaphysics Leibniz's view letter logical Malebranche mathematics matter mechanical mechanical philosophy mind Monadology monads natural language necessary truths niz's ontological argument original perceptions perfection phenomena philosophy physics possible worlds predicate primitive principle of sufficient problem properties proposition quantity of motion reality relations Scholastic sense simple substances soul space Spinoza stance sufficient reason Theodicy thesis things thought tion true understanding unity universal characteristic variety VI.i VI.iii VI.vi Volder Wolff writings