[2EX]⋙ Download Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology Great Books in Philosophy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 9780879757755 Books

Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology Great Books in Philosophy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 9780879757755 Books

Download As PDF : Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology Great Books in Philosophy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 9780879757755 Books

Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology Great Books in Philosophy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 9780879757755 Books

We are in 1686, Leibniz is talking about some properties/qualities of reality and its “god”. Well, he assumes that there is such an impossible “god” doing everything perfect for its own glory. Boring. I almost threw this book at /dev/null (a sort of hellish digital black hole; but Leibniz would claim that his “god” can read stuff there). But, hey, that is exactly the point of reading philosophy! To bring DISCOMFORT (Thanks, B. Russell). So I replaced “god” by “nature” and kept reading the damn thing. You may have some extra motivation because the text is short and Voltaire wrote Candide as satire of this nonsense. By the way, Voltaire’s book is delicious and gets even better after reading this one. Take away: Leibniz was writing to be understood, no fancy language and ingenious analogies with mathematical concepts. And some of the 90 monads, at the end of the book, are sober reasoning over nature (the ones not stating that “god perfection is absolutely infinite” and so on).


Tags : Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology (Great Books in Philosophy) [Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Leibniz (1646 - 1716) was a true polymath and has been called the most comprehensive thinker since Aristotle. In these two great works by the founder of modern German speculative philosophy,Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology (Great Books in Philosophy),Prometheus Books,0879757752,Metaphysics,Metaphysics - Early works to 1800,Metaphysics;Early works to 1800.,Monadology - Early works to 1800,Monadology;Early works to 1800.,Early works to 1800,GENERAL,General Adult,History & Surveys - Modern,Monadology,Non-Fiction,PHILOSOPHY General,PHILOSOPHY History & Surveys Modern,PHILOSOPHY Metaphysics,Philosophy,PhilosophyMetaphysics,Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology,Psychology,PsychologyGeneral,philosophy;philosophy books;metaphysics;psychology;classic;occult;spirituality;physics;epistemology;cosmology;math;aristotle;mythology;atheism;philosophy of mind;aesthetics;astrology;ethics;theology;logic;mathematics;ancient philosophy;reference;consciousness;critical thinking;essays;culture;enlightenment;apologetics;school;collection;self help;god;spiritual;history of philosophy;anthropology;evolution;greek;meditation;existentialism;art;sociology;language;german;christianity;gurdjieff;canon,philosophy; political science; epistemology; political philosophy; existentialism; essays; spirituality; essay; greek; psychology; culture; 20th century; 18th century; philosophy books; ethics; classic; metaphysics; aristotle; ancient philosophy; reference; plato; aesthetics; stoicism; socrates; school; theology; german; philo; enlightenment; ancient; atheism; political theory; rhetoric; drama; aphorisms; nietzsche; language; mythology; occult; philosophy of mind; collection; physics; meditations; economics; self help; star wars; math,Philosophy,Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology

Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology Great Books in Philosophy Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 9780879757755 Books Reviews

I applaud for offering these important books to the public on at little or no cost. It is surely the most perfect of all possible arrangements.
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher; He developed calculus independently of Isaac Newton. Other works of his are collected in Leibniz Selections.

In his Discourse on Metaphysics, he wrote, "Against those who think that God might have made things better than he has... It seems to me that the consequences of such an opinion are wholly inconsistent with the glory of God... To show that an architect could have done better is to find fault with his work. Furthermore this opinion is contrary to the Holy Scriptures when they assure us of the goodness of God's work." (Pg. 5-6) After observing that "God does nothing which is not orderly," he adds, "I use these comparisons to picture a certain imperfect resemblance to the divine wisdom, and to point out that which may at least raise our minds to conceive in some sort what cannot otherwise be expressed. I do not pretend at all to explain thus the great mystery upon which depends the whole universe." (Pg. 10-11)

He argues, "certain philosophers... have constructed a demonstration of God that is extremely imperfect. It must be, they say, that I have an idea of God, or of a perfect being, since I think of him and we cannot think without having ideas; now the idea of this being includes all perfections and since existence is one of these perfections, it follows that he exists... it is when he is assured of the possibility of a thing, that one can boast of having an idea of it. Therefore, the aforesaid argument proves that God exists, fi he is possible. This is in fact an excellent privilege of the divine nature, to have need only of a possibility or an essence in order to actually exist, and it is just this which is called ens a se [`being out of itself"]." (Pg. 40-41)

Of miracles, he says, "These are a part of the general order and conform to the principal purposes of God and consequently, are involved in the concept of this universe, which is a result of these designs. Just as the idea of a building results from the purposes or plans of him who undertakes it, so the idea or concept of this world is a result of the designs of God considered as possible." (Pg. 109)

In his Correspondence, he asserts, "I maintain that every substance involves in its present state all its past and future states and even expresses the whole universe according to its point of view, since nothing is so far from anything else that there is no relation between them." (Pg. 233)

In his Monadology, he begins with the statement, "The Monad, of which we will speak here, is nothing else than a simple substance, which goes to make up composites; by simple, we mean without parts... These Monads are the true Atoms of nature, and, in fact, the Elements of things." (Pg. 251) He asserts, "Therefore God alone (or the Necessary Being) has this prerogative that if he muse necessarily exist, and, as nothing is able to prevent the possibility of that which involves no bounds, no negation, and consequently, no contradiction, this alone is sufficient to establish a priori his existence. We have, therefore, proved his existence through the reality of eternal truths." (Pg. 260-261) Later, he adds, "Thus although each Monad represents the whole universe, it represents more distinctly the body which specifically pertains to it, and of which it constitutes the entelechy." (Pg. 265)

He states his famous "principle of Sufficient Reason, in virtue of which we believe that no fact can be real or existing and no statement true unless it has a sufficient reason why it should be thus and not otherwise. Most frequently, however, these reasons cannot be known by us." (Pg. 258)

Leibniz's philosophy (which, surprisingly, was treated respectfully by the arch-rationalist Bertrand Russell) is less popular these days than his fellow rationalists Descartes and Spinoza; but some of this ideas (e.g., the Principle of Sufficient Reason) have had lasting influence; this is an excellent collection of his writings, and makes as useful introduction to his thought.
A really interesting book but wouldn't recommend for people who are new to philosophy.
We are in 1686, Leibniz is talking about some properties/qualities of reality and its “god”. Well, he assumes that there is such an impossible “god” doing everything perfect for its own glory. Boring. I almost threw this book at /dev/null (a sort of hellish digital black hole; but Leibniz would claim that his “god” can read stuff there). But, hey, that is exactly the point of reading philosophy! To bring DISCOMFORT (Thanks, B. Russell). So I replaced “god” by “nature” and kept reading the damn thing. You may have some extra motivation because the text is short and Voltaire wrote Candide as satire of this nonsense. By the way, Voltaire’s book is delicious and gets even better after reading this one. Take away Leibniz was writing to be understood, no fancy language and ingenious analogies with mathematical concepts. And some of the 90 monads, at the end of the book, are sober reasoning over nature (the ones not stating that “god perfection is absolutely infinite” and so on).