Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

I

Introduction

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, also Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz (1646-1716), German philosopher, mathematician, and statesman, regarded as one of the supreme intellects of the 17th century.

Leibniz was born in Leipzig. He was educated at the universities of Leipzig, Jena, and Altdorf. Beginning in 1666, the year in which he was awarded a doctorate in law, he served Johann Philipp von Schönborn, archbishop elector of Mainz, in a variety of legal, political, and diplomatic capacities. In 1673, when the elector's reign ended, Leibniz went to Paris. He remained there for three years and also visited Amsterdam and London, devoting his time to the study of mathematics, science, and philosophy. In 1676 he was appointed librarian and privy councillor at the court of Hannover. For the 40 years until his death, he served Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, later elector of Hannover, and George Louis, elector of Hannover, later George I, king of Great Britain and Ireland.

Leibniz was considered a universal genius by his contemporaries. His work encompasses not only mathematics and philosophy but also theology, law, diplomacy, politics, history, philology, and physics.

II

Mathematics

Leibniz's contribution in mathematics was to discover, in 1675, the fundamental principles of infinitesimal calculus. This discovery was arrived at independently of the discoveries of the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, whose system of calculus was invented in 1666. Leibniz's system was published in 1684, Newton's in 1687, and the method of notation devised by Leibniz was universally adopted (see Mathematical Symbols). In 1672 he also invented a calculating machine capable of multiplying, dividing, and extracting square roots, and he is considered a pioneer in the development of mathematical logic.

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III

Philosophy

In the philosophy expounded by Leibniz, the universe is composed of countless conscious centers of spiritual force or energy, known as monads. Each monad represents an individual microcosm, mirroring the universe in varying degrees of perfection and developing independently of all other monads. The universe that these monads constitute is the harmonious result of a divine plan. Humans, however, with their limited vision, cannot accept such evils as disease and death as part of a universal harmony. This Leibnizian universe, “the best of all possible worlds,” is satirized as a utopia by the French author Voltaire in his novel Candide (1759).

Important philosophical works by Leibniz include Essays in Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Liberty of Man, and the Origin of Evil (2 volumes, 1710; translated in Philosophical Works,1890), Monadology (1714; published in Latin as Principia Philosophiae,1721; translated 1890), and New Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1703; published 1765; translated 1916). The latter two greatly influenced German philosophers of the 18th century, including Christian von Wolff and Immanuel Kant.

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