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1. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Daniel Garber Robert Merrihew Adams and Leibniz
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This essay reviews Robert Merrihew Adams’ approaches to the philosophy of Leibniz, both his general methodological approaches, and some of the main themes of his work. It attempts to assess his contribution both to the study of Leibniz and to the history of philosophy more generally.
2. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Giovanni Merlo Complexity, Existence and Infinite Analysis
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According to Leibniz’s infinite-analysis account of contingency, any derivative truth is contingent if and only if it does not admit of a finite proof. Following a tradition that goes back at least as far as Bertrand Russell, several interpreters have been tempted to explain this biconditional in terms of two other principles: first, that a derivative truth is contingent if and only if it contains infinitely complex concepts and, second, that a derivative truth contains infinitely complex concepts if and only if it does not admit of a finite proof. A consequence of this interpretation is that Leibniz’s infinite-analysis account of contingency falls prey to Robert Adams’s Problem of Lucky Proof. I will argue that this interpretation is mistaken and that, once it is properly understood how the idea of an infinite proof fits into Leibniz’s circle of modal notions, the problem of lucky proof simply disappears.
3. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Alison Peterman Spinoza on the “Principles of Natural Things”
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This essay considers Spinoza’s responses to two questions: what is responsible for the variety in the physical world and by what mechanism do finite bodies causally interact? I begin by elucidating Spinoza’s solution to the problem of variety by considering his comments on Cartesian physics in an epistolary exchange with Tschirnhaus late in Spinoza’s life. I go on to reconstruct Spinoza’s unique account of causation among finite bodies by considering Leibniz’s attack on the Spinozist explanation of variety. It turns out that Spinoza’s explanations of the variety of bodies, on the one hand, and of causation among finite bodies, on the other, generate a tension in his system that can only be resolved by taking Spinoza to employ two notions of “existence.” I conclude by offering evidence that this is in fact what Spinoza does.
4. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Irena Backus The Mature Leibniz on Predestination
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This essay investigates how Leibniz and Daniel Ernst Jablonski handled the ironing out of intra-protestant religious differences, notably on predestination in the years ca. 1697-1702. I shall be focusing on the recently published union document between the Lutherans of Hanover and the Calvinists of Brandenburg, entitled the Unvorgreiffliches Bedencken (hereafter UB) and on the equally recently published and hitherto practically unknown Meditationes pacatae de praedestinatione et gratia, fato et libero arbitrio of 1701-ca. 1706 2. This is a series of Leibniz’s annotations on Jablonski’s Latin translation of article 17 (predestination) of the bishop of Salisbury, Gilbert Burnet’s Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England. I shall try to show how the issue of predestination is handled in the UB by Leibniz and how his notes on the Meditationes complement and modify Jablonski’s Latin edition of the 17th article of Burnet’s Exposition the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. This will enable us to isolate the set of theological problems faced by the Lutheran and Calvinist participants in the negotium irenicum of 1697 -1702 and to point to the specific nature of the solutions proposed by Leibniz which were philosophical rather than theological. The underlying issue here is that of coexistence of philosophy and theology in Leibniz’s system. Indeed, one of the persistent questions about this philosopher concerns the exact relationship between his metaphysics (including physics and mathematics) and his theological views: which determined which? I hope to take the debate further here by analysing Leibniz’s contribution to the specifically theological issue of predestination, which, it will emerge, has direct bearing on Leibniz’s Essais de théodicée of 1710.
5. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Samuel Levey On Unity, Borrowed Reality and Multitude in Leibniz
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In this paper I argue that what has been called Leibniz’s “aggregate argument” for unities in things in fact comprises three quite distinct lines of argument, with different concepts being advanced under the name ‘unity’ and meriting quite different conceptual treatment. Two of those arguments, what I call the Borrowed Reality Argument and the Multitude Argument, also appear in later writings to be further elaborated into arguments not just for unities but for simples. I consider the arguments in detail. I suggest that one of the two, the Borrowed Reality Argument, is philosophically more promising and has the stronger evidence for being central in Leibniz’s thought as he argues for the existence of simple substances.
leibniz texts
6. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra Leibniz’s Argument for the Identity of Indiscernibles in his Letter to Casati (with Transcription and Translation)
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book reviews and discussion
7. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Mogens Lærke Martine de Gaudemar and Philippe Hamou (eds.), Locke et Leibniz. Deux styles de rationalité
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8. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Mogens Lærke Paul Rateau (ed.), L’Idée de théodicée de Leibniz à Kant: héritage, transformations, critiques
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9. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Marine Picon Paul Rateau (ed.), Lectures et interprétations des Essais de Théodicée de G. W. Leibniz
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10. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Ohad Nachtomy Nicolas de Cues et G.W. Leibniz: Infini, Expression et Singularité
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11. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Anne-Lise Rey Reply to Ohad Nachtomy
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12. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Paul Lodge Leibniz and the Two Sophies: The Philosophical Correspondence
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13. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Patrick Riley G.W. Leibniz, Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, Reihe 1, “Allgemeiner Politischer und Historischer Briefwechsel”
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14. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Adrian Nita Time as a Condition of Possibility: Reply to Michael Futch
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15. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
News from the Leibniz-Gesellschaft Wenchao Li (Hannover/Potsdam)
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16. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Juan Antonio Nicolás Leibniz in Spanish: Theodicy
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17. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Recent Works on Leibniz
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18. The Leibniz Review: Volume > 22
Acknowledgments, Subscription Information, Abbreviations
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