Protogaea

Protogaea
Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2008-09-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0226112977

Protogaea, an ambitious account of terrestrial history, was central to the development of the earth sciences in the eighteenth century and provides key philosophical insights into the unity of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s thought and writings. In the book, Leibniz offers observations about the formation of the earth, the actions of fire and water, the genesis of rocks and minerals, the origins of salts and springs, the formation of fossils, and their identification as the remains of living organisms. Protogaea also includes a series of engraved plates depicting the remains of animals—in particular the famous reconstruction of a “fossil unicorn”—together with a cross section of the cave in which some fossil objects were discovered. Though the works of Leibniz have been widely translated, Protogaea has languished in its original Latin for centuries. Now Claudine Cohen and Andre Wakefield offer the first English translation of this central text in natural philosophy and natural history. Written between 1691 and 1693, and first published after Leibniz’s death in 1749, Protogaea reemerges in this bilingual edition with an introduction that carefully situates the work within its historical context.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Author: Marcelo Dascal
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 568
Release: 2007-05-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1402052286

Remembered mainly as a logician and mathematician, Leibniz also endeavored to resolve political and religious conflicts of his day by bringing opponents into negotiation. The dialectical Leibniz who emerges from the texts here translated, commented, and interpreted is certainly not the familiar one. The book sheds new light on the familiar, yet incomplete image of Leibniz, providing further reason for cherishing and cultivating the heritage of a truly great man.

Discourse on Metaphysics

Discourse on Metaphysics
Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leibniz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 106
Release: 1953
Genre: Metaphysics
ISBN:

Philosophical Papers and Letters

Philosophical Papers and Letters
Author: G.W. Leibniz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 743
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 9401014264

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.

Leibniz: Philosophical Essays

Leibniz: Philosophical Essays
Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2015-03-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1603849580

Although Leibniz's writing forms an enormous corpus, no single work stands as a canonical expression of his whole philosophy. In addition, the wide range of Leibniz's work--letters, published papers, and fragments on a variety of philosophical, religious, mathematical, and scientific questions over a fifty-year period--heightens the challenge of preparing an edition of his writings in English translation from the French and Latin.

Writings on China

Writings on China
Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leibniz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1994
Genre: History
ISBN:

Although Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is best known as a metaphysician, mathematician, and logician, he arguably used the word "China" in his voluminous writings and correspondence more often than those terms usually associated with him: "entelechies," "monads," "pre-established harmony," and so forth. If so, then his sustained writings on things Chinese -- especially on Chinese philosophy and religion -- should take their place alongside his other major works such as the Theodicy, Discourse on Metaphysics, Monadology, and the New Essays Concerning Human Understanding. His more detailed writings on China (as opposed to brief references to it, which he regularly made in his correspondence) can be roughly divided into two categories. The first is the letters he wrote to European -- usually Jesuit -- missionaries in China, or their peers in Europe. Especially is this true of his correspondence with Joachim Bouvet, one of the first French Jesuits to live in China, and whose letters to Leibniz clearly influenced the philosopher. -- Preface (p. [xi]).

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Author: M. B. W. Tent
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2011-10-17
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1439892229

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The Polymath Who Brought Us Calculus focuses on the life and accomplishments of one of the seventeenth century’s most influential mathematicians and philosophers. The book, which draws on Leibniz’s written works and translations, and reconstructs dialogues Leibniz may have had based on the historical record of his life experiences, portrays Leibniz as both a phenomenal genius and a real person. Suitable for middle school age readers, the book traces Leibniz’s life from his early years as a young boy and student to his later work as a court historian. It discusses the intellectual and social climate in which he fought for his ideas, including his rather contentious relationship with Newton (both claimed to have invented calculus). The text describes how Leibniz developed the first mechanical calculator that could handle addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It also examines his passionate advocacy of rational arguments in all controversial matters, including the law, expressed in his famous exclamation calculemus: let us calculate to see who is right. Leibniz made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics and philosophy that have shaped our modern views of these fields.

Theodicy

Theodicy
Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Publisher: DigiCat
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2022-11-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

"Theodicy" is a book of philosophy by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz published in 1710, whose optimistic approach to the problem of evil is thought to have inspired Voltaire's "Candide". Much of the work consists of a response to the ideas of the French philosopher Pierre Bayle, with whom Leibniz carried on a debate for many years. The "Theodicy" tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. It must be the best possible and most balanced world, because it was created by an all powerful and all knowing God, who would not choose to create an imperfect world if a better world could be known to him or possible to exist. In effect, apparent flaws that can be identified in this world must exist in every possible world, because otherwise God would have chosen to create the world that excluded those flaws. Leibniz distinguishes three forms of evil: moral, physical, and metaphysical. Moral evil is sin, physical evil is pain, and metaphysical evil is limitation. God permits moral and physical evil for the sake of greater goods, and metaphysical evil is unavoidable since any created universe must necessarily fall short of God's absolute perfection.