History of Philosophy II Lecture Notes

Phil A212

William Jamison

Lecture 6 Notes:

Leibniz, "Theodicy," is the required reading. We will also discuss the other readings by Leibniz as well as the section of the Monadology as time allows (and we do not take too many commercial breaks). Leibniz is considered very difficult. I suspect he is easier to understand today than he ever was to his contemporaries because we have contemporary views in theoretical physics that are amazingly similar to his metaphysics.

Here is a Biography with a timeline but the Catholic Encyclopedia article on him is the best I have found recently.

Leibniz was acquainted with many significant people and philosophers. He spent some time with Spinoza who showed him some of his incomplete manuscript Ethics. He attempted to visit Hobbes while he was in England but Hobbes was 85 and never replied to his letter. They did not meet. Leibniz was more eclectic than most of his contemporaries and sought a synthesis of modern views with the scholastic Aristotelian philosophies. This may be why Voltaire did not think highly of his philosophy.

Links to other philosophers of the period can be found on this page.

Among those is Anne Conway. Did she influence Leibniz’ theory of the monad? Leibniz also discusses his theories, and the monads, with Queen Sophie, her sister Elizabeth and Princess Sophie.

Next reading assignment:

Locke, "Essays Concerning Human Understanding"