This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be (...) preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Leibnitz's Dissertation: De principio individui" verfügbar.

Der deutsche Mathematiker, Jurist und Philosoph Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leibniz (1646-1716) gilt als universeller Gelehrter und als eine der bedeutendsten Gestalten in der europäischen Kultur und Wissenschaft seiner Zeit. Seine Arbeiten sind nicht nur für die Philosophie, sondern auch für die Naturwissenschaften und die Mathematik grundlegend. Zudem wirkte Leibniz im politischen Bereich ebenso wie in Wissenschaftsorganisationen.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

La doctrine du Droit est du nombre de celles qui ne dependent pas des experiences mais des definitions, ni des demonstrations a partir des sens mais a partir de la raison et qui, pour ainsi dire, sont de droit et non de fait. Puisque la Justice consiste en effet en quelque convenance et proportion, il est possible de comprendre qu'il y ait quelque chose de juste, meme s'il n'y a personne qui exerce la justice ni sur lequel elle soit exercee, (...) exactement comme des relations numeriques sont vraies, meme s'il n'y a personne qui compte ni rien qui soit compte, et nous pouvons predire au sujet d'une maison, d'une machine, ou d'une republique, sa beaute, son efficacite, son bonheur, dans l'hypothese ou elles doivent exister, meme si elles n'existent jamais. (shrink)

In God existence is the same as essence; or—the same thing ·put differently·—it is essential for God to exist. So God is a necessary being, ·a being who exists necessarily·.

Les etudes leibniziennes consacrees au droit positif, telles que le De Conditionibus de 1665, sont encore mal connues pour des raisons d'accessibilite et de complexite. En effet, ecrites en latin, impregnees de references prelevees dans le Corpus justinien (Digeste, Codex et Institules) ou dans le Droit Canonique (Decretales et Extravagantes) et souvent hermetiques dans leur abstraction apparente, elles ont ete delaissees au profit des reflexions jusnaturalistes dont la lecture ne semblait pas requerir les competences d'un juriste et encore moins celle (...) d'un romaniste. Mais on a ainsi occulte des travaux qui representent un apport essentiel pour toute philosophie pretendant depasser l'utilisation superficielle des principes du Droit Naturel dans la question du fondement des legislations positives. Et l'on s'est prive, sans le savoir, des moyens techniques de reconnaitre les diverses manifestations d'une raison commune dans le detail du systeme des obligations conditionnelles. Bien plus, on a totalement meconnu la vigueur et l'actualite d'une enquete portant sur les conditions de validite des dispositions juridiques affectes d'une modalite et soulevant en definitive ces questions esentielles que sont la constituion d'une theorie generale des conditions juridiques, la rationalisation du Droit et les limites de son traitement deductif. (shrink)

Redigee a Paris en 1673, editee pour la premiere fois en 1915, la Confessio philosophi presente la premiere formulation de ce qui deviendra un theme majeur, l'un des plus mal compris aussi par les critiques, de l'oeuvre de maturite. Dans sa Theodicee, Leibniz en rappellera lui-meme le sujet central: Un dialogue latin de ma facon, ou je mettais deja en fait que Dieu ayant choisi le plus parfait de tous les mondes possibles, avait ete porte par sa sagesse a permettre (...) le mal qui y etait annexe, mais qui n'empechait pas que tout compte et rabattu ce monde ne fut le meilleur qui put etre choisi. L' optimisme leibnizien s'exprime ici au plus pres de sa source religieuse; la justification de la realite reconnait l'ombre comme la contre-partie ineluctable de toute illumination. (shrink)

In the New Essays on Human Understanding, Leibniz argues chapter by chapter with John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, challenging his views about knowledge, personal identity, God, morality, mind and matter, nature versus nurture, logic and language, and a host of other topics. The work is a series of sharp, deep discussions by one great philosopher of the work of another. Leibniz's references to his contemporaries and his discussions of the ideas and institutions of the age make this a fascinating (...) and valuable document in the history of ideas. The work was originally written in French, and the version by Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett, based on the only reliable French edition (published in 1962), first appeared in 1981 and has become the standard English translation. It has been thoroughly revised for this series and provided with a new and longer introduction, a chronology on Leibniz's life and career and a guide to further reading. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

The selections contained in these volumes from the papers and letters of Leibniz are intended to serve the student in two ways: first, by providing a more adequate and balanced conception of the full range and penetration of Leibniz's creative intellectual powers; second, by inviting a fresher approach to his intellectual growth and a clearer perception of the internal strains in his thinking, through a chronological arrangement. Much confusion has arisen in the past through a neglect of the develop ment (...) of Leibniz's ideas, and Couturat's impressive plea, in his edition of the Opuscu/es et fragments (p. xii), for such an arrangement is valid even for incomplete editions. The beginning student will do well, however, to read the maturer writings of Parts II, III, and IV first, leaving Part I, from a period too largely neglected by Leibniz criticism, for a later study of the still obscure sources and motives of his thought. The Introduction aims primarily to provide cultural orientation and an exposition of the structure and the underlying assumptions of the philosophical system rather than a critical evaluation. I hope that together with the notes and the Index, it will provide those aids to the understanding which the originality of Leibniz's scientific, ethical, and metaphysical efforts deserve. (shrink)

The monadology.--On the notions of right and justice.--New system of the nature of substances and of the communication between them.--Explanation of the new system--Third explanation of the new system.--On the ultimate origination of things.--New essays on the human understanding.--Introduction.--Principles of nature and of grace.

1. A substance is a being that is capable of action. It is either •simple, meaning that it has no parts, or •composite, meaning that it is a collection of simple substances or monads. (Monas is a Greek word meaning ‘unity’ or ‘oneness’.) Any composite thing—any body—is a multiplicity, ·a many, but simple substances are unities, ·or ones·. There must be simple substances everywhere, because without simples there would be no composites—·without ones there could not be manies·. And simple substances (...) are lives, souls, minds—·where there is a simple substance there is life·—and the world’s being full of such substances means that the whole of nature is full of life. (shrink)

This volume contains more than 60 original translations of papers written by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). As well as contributing to Leibniz scholarship, it is intended to function as an introductory text for students.

Le Discours de métaphysique de 1686 offre, dans la densité de son texte, une synthèse de réflexions jusqu'alors dispersées. Par lui-même, il constitue un exposé d'ensemble - le premier en date et sans nul doute l'un des plus complets - où se trouve ramassée en formules singulièrement fortes une doctrine que reprendront bientôt d'innombrables opuscules et qui inspirera plus tard les grandes œuvres de la vieillesse : il en présente, sous une forme serrée, tous les thèmes essentiels. De 1686 à (...) 1690, il se prolonge par une série de lettres, quelquefois fort longues et toujours très riches, dont le but immédiat est de répondre à quelques objections d'Arnauld, mais dont le développement donne occasion à des reprises ou à des commentaires d'une importance majeure : rien n'éclaire de façon plus profonde l'ouvrage lui-même. On ne peut comprendre le Discours de métaphysique, dans toute sa richesse et sa plénitude, qu'à condition de ne pas le séparer de la Correspondance qui lui fait suite. (shrink)

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION T JLJe1bn1z was above all things a metaphysician. That does not mean that his head was in the clouds, or that the particular sciences ...

Offering an invaluable introduction to Leibniz's philosophy, this volume collects many of his most important texts, beginning with the Discourse on Metaphysics (1686), which marks the beginning of maturity in his ideas, and ending with the Monadology (1714), which was written in response to requests for a systematic, organized account of his overall philosophy. Also included in this volume are critical reactions to Leibniz's work by his contemporaries (Antoine Arnauld, Pierre Bayle, and Simon Foucher), together with Leibniz's responses. All the (...) texts are newly translated into English for this edition, and each is preceded by a summary explaining its background, structure, and content. (shrink)

Copyright © 2010–2015 All rights reserved. Jonathan Bennett [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small ·dots· enclose material that has been added, but can be read as though it were part of the original text. Occasional •bullets, and also indenting of passages that are not quotations, are meant as aids to grasping the structure of a sentence or a thought. Every four-point ellipsis . . . . indicates the omission of a brief passage that seems to present more difficulty than it is (...) worth. (shrink)

Beyond the world, i.e. beyond the collection of finite things, there is some one being who rules, not only as the soul is the ruler in me (or, to put it better, as the self is the ruler in my body), but also in a much higher way. For the one being who rules the universe doesn’t just •govern the world but also •builds or makes it. He is above the world and outside it, so to speak, and therefore he (...) is the ultimate reason for things. ·That follows because •he is the only extramundane thing, i.e. the only thing that exists out of the world; and •nothing in the world could be the ultimate reason for things. I now explain that second premise·. We can’t find in any individual thing, or even in the entire collection and series of things, a sufficient reason why they exist. Suppose that a book on the elements of geometry has always existed, each copy made from an earlier one, ·with no first copy·. We can.. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Controversies are boiling these days among distinguished men over true and false ideas. This is an issue of great importance for recognizing truth—an issue on which Descartes himself is not altogether satisfactory. So I want to explain briefly what I think can be established about the distinctions and criteria that relate to ideas and knowledge. [Here and in..

Die philosophische Grundhaltung des wohl letzten großen Vertreters der Systemphilosophie, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , läßt sich nur unter Berücksichtigung seiner Auseinandersetzung mit allen wissenschaftlichen Problemen seiner Zeit rekonstruieren. Die von Ernst Cassirer zusammengestellten Hauptschriften zur Grundlegung der Philosophie bringen den universalistischen Charakter der Leibnizschen Philosophie durch die Entwicklung ihres gedanklichen Fortschriftts und das Verhältnis der einzelnen Systemglieder zur Anschauung.