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| 1646-1716. German philosopher, mathematician, librarian. | | 1646-1716. German philosopher, mathematician, librarian. |
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| == Life ==
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| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig, on 1 July 1646. His father who was a lawyer and professor of philosophy died early in 1652. For most of the time Leibniz did not attend school, but was rather self-taught in the library of his father.[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335266/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz] In 1661, at the early age of fifteen, Leibniz entered the University of Leipzig to study law. Here he came across the thoughts and achievements of well-known scientists and philosophers such as Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and René Descartes: "Leibniz dreamed of reconciling—a verb that he did not hesitate to use time and again throughout his career—these modern thinkers with the Aristotle of the Scholastics".[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335266/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz] The University of Leipzig refused to accept Leibniz’ application for a doctor’s degree of law in 1666. Therefore he continued his studies in Jena and Altdorf (near Nurnberg), where he achieved his doctor’s degree and was offered to become professor afterwards. However, Leibniz went to Mainz where he worked for the archbishop and elector of Mainz, Johann Philipp von Schönborn. His work was primarily based on political and diplomatic activities. One of his lifelong objectives was to reconcile the Roman Catholics and Protestants in Germany, as well as the Lutherans and Calvinists (Broad 1). During a three-year-stay in Paris (1673-1676) and after Johann Philipp von Schönborn died, he dedicated his work to mathematics, natural sciences and philosophy in detail.
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| For forty years Leibniz worked as librarian and privy councillor in Hanover. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz died in Hanover, on 14 November 1716.
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| == Philosophy ==
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| With regards to the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, Leibniz is considered a rationalist – as opposed to empiricists (e.g. [[Francis Bacon]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[John Locke]]) (Kunzmann et al. 113). "Leibniz shares with Descartes and Spinoza the deep conviction that human reason is competent to discover the ultimate nature of reality" (Jolley 2). One of the core elements in Leibnizian philosophy is monadology. "Far from being a metaphysical fairy tale, the theory of monads is, in fact, a solution to the problem of determining the fundamental building-blocks of reality consistent with Leibniz’s conviction that matter is infinitely divisible […] Leibniz argues that all that fundamentally exists is minds (strictly, souls), and that bodies can somehow be reduced to mental entities" (ibid.).
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| His most important philosophical works are (according to Broad 4/5): ''Discours de métaphysique'' (1685) - Correspondence with Arnauld (1686-90) – ''The New System'' (1695) – Letters to John Bernoulli (1698) – Letters to de Volder (1699-1706) – Letters to the Bosses (1706-16) – ''Theodicy'' (1710) – ''Principles of Nature and of Grace'' (1712-1714) – Correspondence with Clarke (1715-16).
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| == Mathematics ==
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| In 1675 Leibniz laid the foundations of integral and differential calculus. His discovery was not published until 1684. At the same time [[Isaac Newton]] developed his own system of infinitesimal calculus, which was published in 1684 – independently from Leibniz.
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| Leibniz was also interested in logic and considered one of the founders of modern symbolic logic.
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| == Other subjects ==
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| As a universal scholar, Leibniz was also writing on law, theology, history and physics.
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| "Trying to make himself useful in all ways, Leibniz proposed that education be made more practical, that academies be founded; he worked on hydraulic presses, windmills, lamps, submarines, clocks, and a wide variety of mechanical devices; he devised a means of perfecting carriages and experimented with phosphorus. He also developed a water pump run by windmills […] Leibniz is considered to be among the creators of geology because of the observations he compiled there, including the hypothesis that the Earth was at first molten" [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335266/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz].
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| == Reflection ==
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| “Leibniz was probably the most universal genius that there had ever been in Europe” (Broad 3). He has had a great influence in Germany and Europe until now (Broad 5). However, many of Leibniz’ essays and texts were not published until his death. And even today there is no complete collection of his writings. “His Philosophy was popularized and simplified by [German philosopher Christian] Wolff, and it became the orthodox system taught to students in German universities in the eighteenth century” (ibid.).
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| “Leibniz was a man of medium height with a stoop, broad-shouldered but bandy-legged, as capable of thinking for several days sitting in the same chair as of travelling the roads of Europe summer and winter. He was an indefatigable worker, a universal letter writer (he had more than 600 correspondents), a patriot and cosmopolitan, a great scientist, and one of the most powerful spirits of Western civilization" [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335266/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz].
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| == Sources ==
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| http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335266/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz
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| Kunzmann, Peter, Franz-Peter Burkhard, and Franz Wiedmann eds. ''dtv-Atlas Philosophie''. 14th ed. Munich: dtv, 2009, 113-115.
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| Broad, Charlie Dunbar. ''Leibniz: An Introduction''. Cambridge: CUP, 1975.
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| Jolley, Nicholas. "Introduction". ''The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz''. Nicholas Jolley ed. Cambridge: CUP, 1995, 1-17.
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1646-1716. German philosopher, mathematician, librarian.