Leibniz: What Kind of Rationalist?

The contributors here show that Leibniz's 'rationalism' is not restricted to a concern with expanding and applying a logical and mathematical model of thought and action. They show the variety of models Leibniz's rationalism develop, combine, and make use of.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was an outstanding contributor to many fields of human knowledge. The historiography of philosophy has tagged him as a rationalist. But what does this exactly mean? Is he a rationalist in the same sense in Mathematics and Politics, in Physics and Jurisprudence, in Metaphysics and Theology, in Logic and Linguistics, in Technology and Medicine, in Epistemology and Ethics? What are the most significant features of his rationalism, whatever it is?

For the first time an outstanding group of Leibniz researchers, some acknowledged as leading scholars, others in the beginning of a promising career, who specialize in the most significant areas of Leibniz's contributions to human thought and action, were requested to spell out the nature of his rationalism in each of these areas, with a view to provide a comprehensive picture of what it amounts to, both in its general drive and in its specific features and eventual inner tensions.

The chapters of the book are the result of intense discussion in the course of an international conference focused on the title question of this book, and were selected in view of their contribution to this topic. They are clustered in thematically organized parts. No effort has been made to hide the controversies underlying the different interpretations of Leibniz's rationalism in each particular domain and as a whole. On the contrary, the editor firmly believes that only through a variety of conflicting interpretive perspectives can the multi-faceted nature of an oeuvre of such a magnitude and variety as Leibniz's be brought to light and understood as it deserves.

A new global picture of Leibniz's 'rationalism' emerges in this book, a picture that comprises many aspects hitherto overlooked. Each chapter contributes to a better understanding of Leibniz's conception and use of rationality in each field. Beyond that, when viewed side by side, compared, and contrasted, the multi-perspective approach of the book reveals a unique complexity, interconnection, and richness, which goes well beyond the familiar understanding of the label 'rationalist' traditionally applied to this intriguing thinker. For the first time a collective effort is made to examine in depth and from various perspectives the nature of Leibniz's theoretical and practical rationalism. Specialists in different domains of Leibniz's work have gathered in a week-long International Workshop to present and discuss facets of the concept of reason as it is elaborated and employed by Leibniz in these fields, and to inquire about its underlying connections and foundations. The book shows that Leibniz's 'rationalism' is not restricted to a concern with expanding and applying a logical and mathematical model of thought and action. What the chapters of this book show is the variety of models Leibniz's rationalism develops, combines, and makes use of in his variety of endeavours: mathematics, natural science, ethics, law, politics, theology, epistemology, and metaphysics. The contributors to this collective volume comprise leading Leibniz researchers from 12 countries, including the scholars in charge of the various Series of the Academy Edition of his writings, as well as young Leibniz researchers who represent the renewed and growing interest in hitherto neglected aspects of his thought.

Klappentext

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was an outstanding contributor to many fields of human knowledge. The historiography of philosophy has tagged him as a "rationalist". But what does this exactly mean? Is he a "rationalist" in the same sense in Mathematics and Politics, in Physics and Jurisprudence, in Metaphysics and Theology, in Logic and Linguistics, in Technology and Medicine, in Epistemology and Ethics? What are the most significant features of his "rationalism", whatever it is?

For the first time an outstanding group of Leibniz researchers, some acknowledged as leading scholars, others in the beginning of a promising career, who specialize in the most significant areas of Leibniz's contributions to human thought and action, were requested to spell out the nature of his rationalism in each of these areas, with a view to provide a comprehensive picture of what it amounts to, both in its general drive and in its specific features and eventual inner tensions.

The chapters of the book are the result of intense discussion in the course of an international conference focused on the title question of this book, and were selected in view of their contribution to this topic. They are clustered in thematically organized parts. No effort has been made to hide the controversies underlying the different interpretations of Leibniz's "rationalism" - in each particular domain and as a whole. On the contrary, the editor firmly believes that only through a variety of conflicting interpretive perspectives can the multi-faceted nature of an oeuvre of such a magnitude and variety as Leibniz's be brought to light and understood as it deserves.

Zusammenfassung

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was an outstanding contributor to many fields of human knowledge. The historiography of philosophy has tagged him as a rationalist. But what does this exactly mean? Is he a rationalist in the same sense in Mathematics and Politics, in Physics and Jurisprudence, in Metaphysics and Theology, in Logic and Linguistics, in Technology and Medicine, in Epistemology and Ethics? What are the most significant features of his rationalism, whatever it is?

For the first time an outstanding group of Leibniz researchers, some acknowledged as leading scholars, others in the beginning of a promising career, who specialize in the most significant areas of Leibniz's contributions to human thought and action, were requested to spell out the nature of his rationalism in each of these areas, with a view to provide a comprehensive picture of what it amounts to, both in its general drive and in its specific features and eventual inner tensions.

The chapters of the book are the result of intense discussion in the course of an international conference focused on the title question of this book, and were selected in view of their contribution to this topic. They are clustered in thematically organized parts. No effort has been made to hide the controversies underlying the different interpretations of Leibniz's rationalism in each particular domain and as a whole. On the contrary, the editor firmly believes that only through a variety of conflicting interpretive perspectives can the multi-faceted nature of an oeuvre of such a magnitude and variety as Leibniz's be brought to light and understood as it deserves.

Inhalt
Reinterpreting Leibniz's Rationalism?.- Leibniz's Rationalism: A Plea Against Equating Soft and Strong Rationality.- Leibniz's Two-Pronged Dialectic.- Leibniz's Rationality: Divine Intelligibility and Human Intelligibility.- Natural Sciences and Mathematics.- De Abstracto et Concreto: Rationalism and Empirical Science in Leibniz.- Leibniz Against the Unreasonable Newtonian Physics.- Some Hermetic Aspects of Leibniz's Mathematical Rationalism.- Symbolic Inventiveness and Irrationalist Practices in Leibniz's Mathematics.- The Art of Mathematical Rationality.- Epistemology.- Ramus and Leibniz on Analysis.- Locke, Leibniz, and Hume on Form and Experience.- Leibniz's Conception of Natural Explanation.- The Role of Metaphor in Leibniz's Epistemology.- What Is the Foundation of Knowledge? Leibniz and the Amphibology of Intuition.- Law.- Leibniz: What Kind of Legal Rationalism?.- On Two Argumentative Uses of the Notion of Uncertainty in Law in Leibniz's Juridical Dissertations a…