Book Description
"A colorful reinterpretation…. Stewart's wit and profluent prose make this book a fascinating read."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Philosophy in the late seventeenth century was a dangerous business. No careerist could afford to know the reclusive, controversial philosopher Baruch de Spinoza. Yet the wildly ambitious genius Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who denounced Spinoza in public, became privately obsessed with Spinoza's ideas, wrote him clandestine letters, and ultimately met him in secret.
"In refreshingly lucid terms" (Booklist) Matthew Stewart "rescues both men from a dusty academic shelf, bringing them to life as enlightened humans" (Library Journal) central to the religious, political, and personal battles that gave birth to the modern age. Both men put their faith in the guidance of reason, but one spent his life defending a God he may not have believed in, while the other believed in a God who did not need his defense. Ultimately, the two thinkers represent radically different approaches to the challenges of the modern era. They stand for a choice that we all must make.
Customer Reviews:
Philosophy for the Mass.......2007-10-17
The book is aptly named, except for the fact that it includes "the fate of God in the modern world". God seems to survive despite our best attempts to rationalize her out of human experience(Spinoza) or act so badly that no one would want to believe in a God who had ardent followers like Leibniz. Anyway, I found the book to be a "good read", but I am interested in these philosophical musing. Those readers who have little background in relatively "modern" philosophy might get lost in the intellectual discussion of the major protagonists' thought, but the narrative is fascinating. I enjoyed reading about these fellows' lives and how they intersected on so many levels. Whether the author intended this or not, Spinoza seems to get the nod for "best in philosophy" and "best person" awards. Leibniz becomes the sore "loser" with a prideful chip on his shoulder. Apparently, Leibniz never ate humble pie?
Baruch Wins by a Knockout!.......2007-08-30
So many reviews already! Mine will be brief. Matthew Stewart's exegesis of Spinoza is brilliant, the clearest I've ever encountered, and should be taken as a challenge from the past by all adherents of "Intelligent Design". Leibniz is portrayed less sympathetically, indeed as a bit of an intellectual opportunist, as if Voltaire had not already convinced all the world that "Pangloss" was a hapless fool. Even if you, dear reader, are utterly indifferent to the theological/philosophical issues of the 17th C (which are still with us), you may well find this book as sprightly and engrossing as any historical novel.
Of Course We Should Care!.......2007-08-18
If you are honest enough to ask "why do I exist?" or "is there a God?" then you should care. These "old philosophers" affirm the enduring and ever-present tension between the power of reason to understand and the necessity of faith (or an approximation of such) to carry on and to cope. It is rational to struggle with such notions, irrational not to. To peer under the context and understand the motivations, personalities, and failings of those who rose to intellectual heights is to assure oneself of an appreciation of how the greatest of us have sought answers. To suppose such things not worth a care is to sleep through life.
Do we really care what old philosophers have to say?.......2007-05-18
The book is quite readable for the layperson. It is historically interesting, especially the interplay of notables of the era. There is too much repetition of the basic philosophic positions of the principals. The philosophy of both men has for the most part been dicarded by modern thinkers. It would be more interesting if the author had spent more space explaining how more latter day thinkers appraise the contributions of Leibniz and Spinoza. On the whole it was good. R Stageman
Opposing Views on Religion.......2007-05-14
On the back of the paperback's cover, the author, Matthew Stewart, is described as philosopher having sold off his consulting business to live a life of contemplation in Santa Barbara. Intriguing and interesting! Stewart has woven together the ideas and story behind two very distinct minds and world viewpoints. A life of contemplation has been very good for him.
Spinoza, the heretic, lived a simple life not seeking luxury or fame. His atheistic view of an inanimate God is largely viewed as the start of modernity. Leibniz was everything Spinoza was not. He was paragon of superlatives. Fashion-conscious, materialist, well-educated, and overly ambitious seemed to be intrigued with the ideas of Spinoza. After recognizing the consequence of Spinoza's ideas, he defended traditional beliefs. Leibniz was largely forgotten by the world after his death, even though he invented calculus at roughly the same time as Newton and influenced the philosophy of Kant.
I do wish the author took the time to use modern words when presenting some of the philosophical concepts. The language of the late 1600s and early 1700s is hard to conceptualize. For example, Leibniz postulated that the universe is composed of countless conscious centers of spiritual force or energy, known as monads. What the heck is a monad? A small complaint in an otherwise wonderfully executed and researched book.
Amazon.com
Observing that Leibniz "could manage simultaneously all the sciences," Bernard de Fontenelle half-seriously proposed that the student of his work should "make several savants from only one Leibniz." Fortunately, the 13 essays contained in The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz ought to make it unnecessary to dissect the great 17th-century polymath. The contributors, all distinguished scholars of Leibniz's work (strangely, though not objectionably per se, also all English speakers), have created a guide suitable for specialists and nonspecialists alike, well worth the attention of anyone interested in Leibniz's philosophy.
Roger Ariew's biographical essay and Stuart Brown's essay on the 17th-century intellectual backdrop help to situate Leibniz in his milieu. At the center of the Companion, however, are the essays that deal with Leibniz's metaphysics. His early metaphysical work is discussed by Christina Mercer and R.C. Sleigh Jr., who reveal, surprisingly, that it was ultimately motivated by his ambitious project to reconcile Roman Catholics and Protestants. Donald Rutherford examines Leibniz's later metaphysical work, dominated by the theory of monads, which "posits that the only fully real beings are unextended, soul-like substances." David Blumenfeld explains Leibniz's ontological and cosmological arguments for the existence of God; he also discusses Leibniz's famous dictum--ridiculed by Voltaire in Candide--that this is the best of all possible worlds. Other essays deal with Leibniz's work in logic, the philosophy of language, epistemology, physics, and moral philosophy. The Companion concludes with Catherine Wilson's insightful discussion of the reception of Leibniz's philosophy, although she unfortunately ends her historical survey with Kant. --Glenn Branch
Book Description
A remarkable thinker, Gottfried Leibniz made fundamental contributions not only to philosophy, but also to the development of modern mathematics and science. At the center of Leibniz's philosophy stands his metaphysics, an ambitious attempt to discover the nature of reality through the use of unaided reason. This volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the full range of Leibniz's thought, exploring the metaphysics in detail and showing its subtle and complex relationship to his views on logic, language, physics, and theology.
Customer Reviews:
On the Translation.......2005-07-06
Please forgive me for commenting on an English translation that I have not read, but honestly I was put off from purchasing the English edition by the complaints of several reviewers, so I purchased a French edition instead. I am familiar with Deleuze and Leibniz, but not a specialist in either per se. I read French well enough, but not with the acumen of a French professor. However, Deleuze's French is deliberate and concise, startlingly brilliant and terse. Moreover, the substantive content of the text is not particularly difficult for anyone who has some mastery of the philosophical issues behind Leibniz' mathematics and the development of the calculus or a general mastery of Deleuze. After spending a few days with the French text, I find it highly unlikely that a Harvard French professor with the complicity of the University of Minnesota Press would botch such an important translation. Just for example, one reviewer complained about the word "corps." In Leibniz's philosophical writings on mathematics, natural philosophy, or the mathematical qua philosophical problem of the continuum, for example, he uses the word "body" and "bodies" any number of times in mathematical contexts ... for example "On Minima and Maxima: On Bodies and Minds" (1672-73), "On Body, Space, and the Continuum" (1676), "A Body is not a Substance" (1679), just to name a few. If you are interested in Deleuze's wonderful little book and can't read the French with as much profit or pleasure as an English translation, I suspect you needn't worry about the quality of the translation. With all due respect to the opinions of others... Stuart MacNiven, Rutgers University
Between Two Worlds.......2004-06-15
While my French is not good enough to judge others, I find it very easy to believe that this translation is not good. I found this book the most difficult of Deleuze's works, and I think the translator did not understand his task. To recover I needed to undertake a rereading of Leibniz so I could see through the English text before me and re-establish the original terms and questions.
Still, if you do not read French well, this very important book should not escape you even in this edition. Leibniz was a giant at the watershed between faith and science who was able to span this divide and think with complexity and innovation about the soul and mathematics. Since then, few can handle either vocabulary with such perspective, and almost none, save Deleuze, have tried to understand the demands of both.
If one does not, as almost all do, take for granted the givens of the centered subject and the rational world, their mutual differences demand a theory as powerful as the complexities they evoke. This book attempts to place that theory in play again with vigor.
A Refined Work of Philosophy.......2003-07-18
This is a superb book, but it is also one of Deleuze's most dense works (his explication of all three of Kant's Critiques in just under one hundred pages notwithstanding). The impressive range of Deleuze's thought that is brought to the unpacking of philosophy in the baroque, and the baroque in philosophy (a theatrum philosophicum), makes this a demanding and rewarding work. In a certain sense it is also a portrait of Deleuze's lifelong intense and singular engagement with philosophy. Frustrating as ever, it is still one of the most elegant writings in Deleuze's varied oeuvre, and its translation into English is an achievement, capably rendering Deleuze's thought together with his stylistic transitions that alternate between terse and flowing. It is perhaps appropriate to the baroque topic that Deleuze's intricate writing at times evokes a labyrinthine line.
An earlier reviewer questioned what Deleuze was doing with Leibniz's calculus. While Leibniz's calculus is of course crucial for Deleuze, in this work Deleuze keeps returning to one equation that almost acts as a sort of musical refrain, and through it he uses Leibniz's invention to express a philosophical concept. This is an excellent example of the refinement and elegance of Deleuze's thought that pervades the book as a whole.
Here is the equation: d(y)/d(x). This is certainly not a differential equation that a mathematician would have hit upon. Instead it is Deleuze's expression of a philosophical concept via calculus. When plotted out the equation produces a clinamen, or swerve, with no constant, only variables. It is "a world that no longer has its center" as Deleuze phrases it on page 125 of the translation. It is a structure without a center, as Derrida would call it. But whereas Derrida's notion can only be stated as a paradox (because by definition there can be no such thing as a centerless structure), Deleuze succeeds in expressing it as a simple differential equation. In other words, there are nothing but differences (and, Deleuze would maintain, force). Returning to the equation, the function d(y) is dependent on d(x), which it is divided by. d(y) is dependent on a differential function d(x), that is, a continuously displaced variable. Absolutely useless to mathematicians, it is however a succint expression of Deleuze's thought, conveyed via Leibniz's calculus, that creates a distribution of remarkable points. Michel Serres' 700 page tome "Le système de Leibniz et ses modèles mathématiques" is perhaps a wonderful appendix to Deleuze's little book. It appeared briefly in English translation as "The System of Leibniz," published by the Clinamen Press.
one of Deleuze's very best.......2003-03-22
Deleuze's sojourns into the history of philosophy, as everyone knows by now, paint a stark contrast to his "independent" works; the former being wonders of concision and clarity, each one like a diamond cutter, and the latter being drawn-out, often tedious, and in general more difficult to pentrate.
The Fold falls somewhere in between the two as he wrote it so late in his life when most assumed he was done with history. We should be thankful that he wasn't. In order to get through this book, I'll just offer my opinion for those who it may affect: when I first picked it up, I read the first two chapters and almnost threw it across the room. I didn't pick the book up again because--presumptuous me--I thought the whole book was going to be like that. WRONG! As I said, Deleuze mixes it up here, and while you may not get every chapter, there will be those, like the short, almost curt, "What is an Event?" that will, um, blow your mind.
As for this being a discourse on Leibniz. Hard to say when we've read so little Leibniz, but Deleuze is willing to stick with his "compossible" world throughout all of the book until the end, which is pretty amazing---you know, since for Deleuze's world one of the first requirements is the reality of incompossibles. But it will give you a passion for Leibniz regardless, as the last reviewer made clear.
Finally, I think Deleuze here tries to answer some of the most difficult questions that faced him after years of expanding and 'deterritorializing' D&R and LofS. If you read the latter, for instance, did you have a sort of empty feeling when he got to the "Dynamic Genesis" and afterwards, as if his tying the incorporeals to the corporeals from the point of view of bodies wasn't as solid as from the point of view of sense? Deleuze will repay you here with interest, giving one of the most fascinating and detailed accounts of a body and its connection to monads I've ever read. It may not solve all of the problems for his materialism, but then again, it might. That's a judgment call and regardless of how you judge, this book will have riches for you.
10 stars.
A Key of sorts.......2002-12-10
Deleuze's book is, at least for no other reason, a worthwhile read for its sheer imagination. Secondly, it is worth reading as it shows just what is so wonderfully interesting about Leibniz. If you know Leibniz, read this book, even just a single section, and then you will understand why there do exist, in small obscure places, Leibnitians. If you are looking for a splendidly imaginative perspective, read up.
Book Description
G.W. Leibniz’s Monadology, one of the most important pieces of the Leibniz corpus, is at once one of the great classics of modern philosophy and one of its most puzzling productions. Because the essay is written in so condensed and compact a fashion, for almost three centuries it has baffled and beguiled those who read it for the first time.
Nicholas Rescher accompanies the text of the Monadology section-by-section with relevant excerpts from some of Leibniz’s widely scattered discussions of the matters at issue. The result serves a dual purpose of providing a commentary of the Monadology by Leibniz himself, while at the same time supplying an exposition of his philosophy using the Monadology as an outline.
The book contains all of the materials that even the most careful study of this could text could require: a detailed overview of the philosophical background of the work and of its bibliographic ramifications; a presentation of the original French text together with a new, closely faithful English translation; a selection of other relevant Leibniz texts; and a detailed commentary. Rescher also provides a survey of Leibniz’s use of analogies and three separate indices of key terms and expressions, Leibniz’s French terminology, and citations.
Rescher’s edition of the Monadology presents Leibniz’s ideas faithfully, accurately, and accessibly, making it especially valuable to scholars and students alike.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent edition for students.......2006-11-18
Leibniz was one of the most amazing polymaths of the European Renaissance. An expert in Law, Philosophy, History, Geology, Mathematics and Natural Science (Leibniz co-invented the calculus with Newton) he is rightly said to be one of the last 'universal geniuses' in Europe.
Not many know the great mathematician was also a great Philosopher, much like Descartes before him. Perhaps he is better known to many through Voltaire's satirical novel 'Candide', which ridicules a philosopher much like Leibniz who remains optimistic despite experiencing the worst series of disasters which could befall a man.
Leibniz was a rationalist, in the sense he believed the mind could gain access to transempirical truths through reason alone, above and beyond sense experience. He also set up a metaphysical schema of the universe which included God and entities called 'monads.' Monads are idealistic centers of awareness, varying in their capacity for growth. God is the creator of monads and also of the universe, though our universe is the best out of all possible universes God chose to make, a view which led to Voltaire crudely attacking him in satire. In some ways this view is somewhat like that of Origen and Evagrius of Pontus, who believed that God created various beings who fell from their contemplation of the logos and in doing so created our visible world.
This edition includes valuble study notes and commentary on the text, and references to additional sources.
Leibniz is an important alternative to the Newtonian-Cartesian Paradigm.......2005-12-11
Leibniz remains surprisingly contemporary. Perhaps that is because thorough reasoning does not diminish in value over time. This book is a classic. It provides a concise summary of his metaphysics. Several things trouble me about his system, however...
1) If Monads have no extension and there is no vacuum how does space arise? I have trouble conceiving a plenum composed of Monads as Leibniz describes them.
2) How does efficient cause operate upon Monads if they are "windowless?"
3) If qualities are intrisic to Monads, how does a quantitative change engender a qualitative change (i.e. boiling water)?
Maybe another reviewer who understands Leibniz better than I do can answer my questions.
Leibniz's Monads: Spiritual Atoms of the Universe.......2005-01-25
This important book by Rescher translates and discusses the spiritual atoms (or monads) that were developed in the 17th century by Gottfried Leibniz. The monads are part of the thoughts that Leibniz was having on the least action principle, his famous infinitesimal calculus, his theory of minute perceptions, and his universal characteristics for science.
Leibniz expected to use his indivisible monads to challenge the divisible and physical atoms proposed by England's John Locke for Newton's mechanical universe. But, Locke died before the debate could take place. Leibniz eventually debated with Newton through Samuel Clarke in 1715-16. But Leibniz died in 1716 and the monads died with his death. Today, the monads are being offered as alternatives to the chemical atoms found in the Periodic Chart of chemistry books and the string theories being developed in the school of physics. The indivisible monads of Leibniz are being considered because the chemical atoms and strings are divisible objects and are thus not atoms.
Since the monads are indivisible, Leibniz can be connected to Nicholas of Cusa and Georg Cantor, who worked with indivisibles. Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo also worked with Cusa's indivisibles. I am writing a book on the unification of science and theology and will include Leibniz's monads in a new creation theory. Rescher's book is necessary reading for all godly scientists who reject the Big Bang theory, evolutionary theory, and string theories.
The edition to get.......2003-07-18
What distinguishes this edition of the Monadology from all others is the extra material included by Rescher. Rescher has collected material from Leibniz's other writings which shed great light on the concepts in the Monadology. In addition, he had included his own commentary on each of the 90 sections.
If you read the bare Monadology, you will probably be confused since it is too brief. If you read this edition, you are actually reading Leibniz's own commentary on the Monadology, and your understanding will be greatly enhanced.
An Excellent Book.......1999-12-12
Leibniz' "Monadology" offers a deeply thought out alternative to the physicalist world view implicit in Galileo and the mechanistic side of Descartes. Leibniz outlines a fascinating and distinct view of the relationship of mind and body, the nature of organisms, and the nature of the universe. Rescher's edition is nothing short of spectacular, offering elaboration of each proposition in the "Monadology" with extensive quotes from Leibniz' other works, as well as his own commentary. This edition is one of the best available ways of becoming acquainted with Leibniz' thought and with the substantive issues involved. Readers who find this book interesting might also enjoy reading Heidegger's commentaries on Leibniz in his book "The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic." Here Heidegger is at his best, offering detailed textual exegesis and a sincere attempt to find the inner logic of Leibiz' thought.
Amazon.com
Computers rely on such things as semiconductors, memory chips, and electricity. But they also rely on a hard-won body of scientific knowledge that has enabled the now-ubiquitous devices to perform complex calculations, multitask, and even play a game of solitaire.
Martin Davis, a fluent interpreter of mathematics and philosophy, locates the source of this knowledge in the work of the remarkable German thinker G. W. Leibniz, who, among other accomplishments, was a distinguished jurist, mining engineer, and diplomat but found time to invent a contraption called the "Leibniz wheel," a sort of calculator that could carry out the four basic operations of arithmetic. Leibniz subsequently developed a method of calculation called the calculus raciocinator, an innovation his successor George Boole extended by, in Davis's words, "turning logic into algebra." (Boole emerges as a deeply sympathetic character in Davis's pages, rather than as the dry-as-dust figure of other histories. He explained, Davis reports, that he had turned to mathematics because he had so little money as a student to buy books, and mathematics books provided more value for the money because they took so long to work through.) Davis traces the development of this logic, essential to the advent of "thinking machines," through the workshops and studies of such thinkers as Georg Cantor, Kurt Gödel, and Alan Turing, each of whom puzzled out just a little bit more of the workings of the world--and who, in the bargain, made the present possible. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
One of the world's pioneers in the development of computer science offers a mesmerizing history of computers. Computers are everywhere today--at work, in the bank, in artist's studios, sometimes even in our pockets--yet they remain to many of us objects of irreducible mystery. How can today's computers perform such a bewildering variety of tasks if computing is just glorified arithmetic? The answer, as Martin Davis lucidly illustrates, lies in the fact that computers are essentially engines of logic. Their hardware and software embody concepts developed over centuries by logicians such as Leibniz, Boole, and Godel, culminating in the amazing insights of Alan Turing. The Universal Computer traces the development of these concepts by exploring with captivating detail the lives and work of the geniuses who first formulated them. Readers will come away with a revelatory understanding of how and why computers work and how the algorithms within them came to be.
Customer Reviews:
formidable marble-eye stare.......2006-06-07
A very fun read chalk full of and lively interesting personal and biographical information on some of the greatest logicians and mathematicians to have ever lived (e.g. Godel, Hilbert, Boole).
If you're interested in the history of computation theory (computational logic) and even mathematical logic more generally, this book is highly recommended. Davis himself was part of that history by making contributions, e.g., to the Entscheidungsproblem (decision problem).
At the same time, he does not skimp on technical details and explanations, though some of the more technical are often relegated to lengthy endnotes, and so most of these are easily skipped, if desired, without loss of continuity.
A fun read!
A Fun Read........2003-09-20
An entertaining book that will be enjoyed by anyone interested in mathematical logic or computation theory. Davis weaves history, anecdote, and mathematics into an exciting sketch of the major developments in mathematical logic and their role in the development of the computer. He does a commendable job in explaining the mathematics in an accessible fashion, without distorting it by over-simplification. A good book for people new to the field as well as those already familiar with these stories.
An Excellent Overview.......2003-07-02
I thought that this book was an excellent overview of the development of logical thought and it's relevance to the modern computer. Davis does a superior job of energizing a subject that is admittedly a little dull. I found myself rereading several of the sections to try to better understand some of the math involved, but overall, I think Davis found a nice balance between the complexity of the math and the history of logic. My one serious criticism of the book is that I found the chronology to be tough to follow, and I often found myself referring back to previous chapters to try and get a better sense of when events were happening. It is natural to assume that a book like this is presented in chronological fashion. The Universal Computer generally is presented that way, but there are some events that happen more or less simultaneously. This is important to the overview of the history of the field. I think the book could actually use a graphical timeline with the birth dates of the mathematicians and the significant events (i.e. 1902 - Russell's letter to Frege, etc.) that are involved. Other than that, the book is informative and enjoyable for those interested in the origins of the modern computer.
A history of the underlying mathematical concepts.......2003-06-12
As a recent college graduate, who earned a B.S. in computer science, I thought this book provided some good background information on the people who worked to discover the underlying principles of automated mathematics implemented in a machine. The book was, for the most part, not terribly difficult to follow and gave more insight on the actual history of the individual people and times than I thought it might. Nevertheless, the individual histories, and time context put the points being made into a better framework. Not a long book, I recommend this to the more intellectual type, rather than an occasional reader.
The best popular history of the computer as logic engine.......2003-03-19
While most of us consider computers to be some special silicon in a white box, they are in fact machines that execute rules in applied logic. For this reason, the history of computing has two tracks. The first is the hardware track, which generally starts with Charles Babbage and progresses through the recent advances in integrated circuits. One chapter of the book traces the historical development of computer hardware, starting with the Jacquard loom and moving up to the modern personal computer. The second is the history of logic that can be mechanically applied, which is the primary focus of this book.
Once again, the mathematics largely predates the applications. It is amazing how mathematicians develop mathematical structures that initially have no applications and then after some time, something appears that requires that form of mathematics. To me, it is nothing sort of amazing that Alan Turing invented an abstract universal computer long before any of the physical counterparts existed. No one has ever been able to substantially improve on his Turing machines and it is widely believed that they cannot be improved. This theme permeates the book and Davis does a very good job in presenting all of the advances in a historical context.
The contributions of Leibniz, Boole, Frege, Cantor, Hilbert, Godel and Turing are all described in detail, and it is clear how one person's work was built using that done by their predecessors. Other people noted include Bertrand Russell, Leopold Kronecker, and Albert Einstein.
This is the best popular history of the development of the computer viewed as a logic engine. I strongly recommend it as a book for courses in the history of mathematics and computing.
Book Description
The Oxford Philosophical Texts series consists of authoritative teaching editions of canonical texts in the history of philosophy from the ancient world down to modern times. Each volume provides a clear, well laid out text together with a comprehensive introduction by a leading specialist, giving the student detailed critical guidance on the intellectual context of the work and the structure and philosophical importance of the main arguments. Endnotes are supplied which provide further commentary on the arguments and explain unfamiliar references and terminology, and a full bibliography and index are also included. The series aims to build up a definitive corpus of key texts in the Western philosophical tradition, which will form a reliable and enduring resource for students and teachers alike. This volume contains Leibniz's most important texts, starting with the Discourse on Metaphysics (1686), which marks the beginning of maturity in Leibniz's ideas and ending with the Monadology (1714), written in response to requests for a systematic, organized account of his overall philosophy. In between fall other key works including the New System of Nature (1695), the Specimen of Dynamics (1695), Nature Itself (1698), and the Principles of Nature and Grace (1714). Also included in the volume are critical reactions to the Discourse and the New System by Leibniz's contemporaries, Antoine Arnauld, Pierre Bayle, and Simon Foucher, together with Leibniz's responses. All the texts are newly translated into English for this edition, and each is preceded by a summary explaining its background, structure, and content. Also containing a substantial introduction, notes, and bibliography, the volume offers a comprehensive introduction to Leibniz's philosophy.
Customer Reviews:
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: the mind, the monad........2004-08-19
Leibniz is indeed one of the most important and influential of philosophers and also one of the least examined, perhaps even among students of philosophy. He is most known for his contributions to mathematics, theology, and physics while his philosophical views are most often perceived through Voltaire's popular, but rather superficial mocking of his arguments regarding "possible worlds." But Leibniz' "best of all possible worlds" view is more subtle and robust than Voltaire was willing to see. The argument is not that the world is perfect -- certainly not if taken from any single, topical point of view, but that "in producing the universe [God] chose the best possible design, in which there was the greatest variety, together with the greatest order." One may dispute Leibniz' general view and/or aspects of his justification of it, but as Leibniz developed the argument along the lines of possibility, contingency, and necessity, it is difficult to see how one would logically disprove it. It has had to be enough for detractors to declare that they disagree with, or dislike the argument.
The famous argument is a recurring thread and summation in this Oxford Philosophical Texts volume edited by Woolhouse and Francks. Here is certainly a book that belongs in the library of any student of philosophy. As is noted in the editor's introduction, a recent biographer has written of Leibniz -- "Even if he had only contributed to one field, such as law, history, politics, linguistics, theology, logic, technology, mathematics, science, or philosophy his achievement would have earned him a place in history. Yet he contributed to all these fields, not as a dilettante but as an innovator able to lead the specialists." But even in the reasoning of such a magnificent mind there are problems and weaknesses (which tells us a great deal about philosophy and the human mind!). I won't explore the main difficulties that I found. I share one of the concerns expressed by Antoine Arnauld in his correspondence with Leibniz, as well as a few others.
Leibniz draws first from classical schools of thought, the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and Peripatetics (while wise ancient philosophers will always need rehabilitation, they "were not so far from the truth, nor so ridiculous as the common run of our new philosophers suppose."). He mostly rejects the Scholastics as well as the popular influences of European thought, Hobbes and Spinoza. With modification, he rehabilitates Aristotle's "entelechies," which become his "monads" (from the Greek, 'monas', meaning unity, or that which is one). A monad is the universe "from a point of view". Matter is understood as phenomena, not substance. Substance (for example number or mind) is irreducible, matter is a composite. Leibniz' view is amenable to Pythagoras and in many ways to both quantum theory (in the "quarks and gluons" model, the "solidity" of matter is merely a phenomena of the gluon force, and voids in space-time are not exactly voids) and to so-called string theories. One might say it is amenable to grand unification theory as well. Leibniz also hinted bluntly of Einstein's Relativity, repeatedly stating that there is no such thing as a physical state of absolute rest, motion, or time, as they are all "relativities." Newton, for all his genius, got that wrong (as regards time, that is).
I could go on and on, there are many pregnant themes in this collection of essays, articles, and correspondence (for example, "the present is big with the future"). Trying to keep this brief, I will simply suggest you read Leibniz (but do not skip the excellent introduction in this volume). Histories place him in Newton's shadow, which is unfortunate; as a philosopher, he certainly does not belong there. As regards the comparisons, Leibniz' mathematics was more elegant, his physics more far-sighted, his theology better by almost any standard. It seems he had a nicer personality too. His influence on such divergent thinkers as Kant, Russell, and Plantinga indicates his continuing importance.
For once the publisher's boasting is spot on........2002-06-08
This is a superb edition of Leibniz, the best I've found yet. If you want to get seriously into philosophy you should really have this book. For some reason Leibniz is the most ignored of all the great philosophers and so introductory works are difficult to find, which is the space this book admirably fills.
Like all the books in the Oxford range, it contains a long and helpful introduction, and individual notes for each work here, which are very helpful for Leibniz. Leibniz has a tendency to write for his friends, and thus you'll find he often assumes you already know something about his system, making his works very difficult to get into. Reading the introduction first completely clears this difficulty away and allows you to fully grasp his ideas (he's not a particularly difficult thinker once you get into him).
In terms of the texts on offer here, they have included all of his most important short texts, like the Discourse, Monadology, New System and Principles. As well as this, they've included some correspondance and replies from Arnauld and Bayle which is interesting since it had a big influence on Leibniz - and the correspondance to Arnauld also forms an effective introduction to his thought. If you need to study Leibniz or you're just into philosophy, you can't do better than this.
Book Description
Leibniz's political and ethical writing long has been neglected, and with this new edition Professor Riley makes available the most representative pieces from Leibniz's political theory. This new edition, specially prepared for this series, is the first to make a considerable number of Leibniz's writings available in English, and includes three previously unpublished manuscripts, a selection of political letters, an introduction, notes, and a critical biography.
Customer Reviews:
Riley from someone who has studied under the Riley.......2001-05-07
Patrick Riley takes Leibniz to a new Level. As a student of Riley I learned first hand what this book was all about. Exploration of Leibniz both as a philosopher and as a jurisprude were taken into acount in this anthology. This is an excelent companion to his book "Leibniz' Universal Jurisprudence: Justice As the Charity of the Wise." The previously unpublished (and untraslated) works present in this anthology show Leibniz's reaction to rationalist and theological determinism, as well as complement Leibniz's own Theodecy. This is a must buy for anyone who wants to Learn about Leibniz's philosophy, or just read it for fun
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, but with caveat.......2007-07-21
I have nothing to add to the previous reviews concerning the importance of Leibniz's thought as expressed in this book. I would like to add this caveat, however: this translation is not a critical edition. Leibniz quotes numerous passages in Greek and Latin (he was enormously erudite), but these passages are not translated in this edition. Neither does the editor/translator identify where the quoted passages are from (this would be useful if one wanted to look up the original context of a passage that Leibniz is quoting). Fortunately, the quotations are usually not necessary to understand the argument, which is somewhat repetitive in any case.
The other disadvantage of this volume is that the index contains only proper names and not ideas. This is unfortunate, since much of the work is not clearly organized and the discussion of a given issue is often scattered throughout the book.
But since this is the best edition of the Theodicy currently available in English, one has to live with these disadvantages.
This is the motherload!.......2005-05-17
This, and other of Leibniz's writings are, ..... I don't know. Profound? That is an understatement! Paradigm shifting? At least a few? These are some of the most powerful and poignant thoughts put into writing. This is the man who discovered the calculus with meaning (as opposed to Newton, who also gets credit, but had a different basis).
Leibniz gets some bad neglect in history, largely because Voltaire undermined his thoughts by creating a ridiculous straw-man of Leibniz's ideas - maybe Voltaire just couldn't grasp it! It is some of the hardest writing to read, especially since there was nothing before this like it. (for this reason, I recommend, if new to Leibniz, to NOT read an introduction or such. Many "scholars" still give Voltaire's slant on Leibniz. Read for yourself and then judge).
For hundreds of years Leibniz was put on the back shelf because Newton reigned supreme. But guess what? It turns out that Leibniz was right in his charges against Newton. The death of classical physics and the rise of the quantum started with Leibniz - it just took the world a while to catch up.
Also, if you have to deal with someone who gives that trite argument "If God is all powerful, If God is all good, How is there evil in the world," Plop, this book on his/her lap. Why people expect and easy and quick answer to this question is beyond me. Leibniz's answer, his treatment of free will and determinism, the soul and the individual - truly, if grasped, will change some part of your mind for the better.
Light years ahead of its time.......2003-02-22
_Theodicy_ by Leibniz is amazingly relevant and readable considering how long ago it was written. This book is far better than many other works of philosophy which came much later. Very few authors have been able to tackle the problem of the relationship between the existence of evil and the existence of God with as much skill and clarity as Leibniz. The issues discussed in this book are still very relevant today, and the questions concerning evil and the existence of God still have not been answered. That is what makes this work so timeless; if I had been told that it was written yesterday I would have believed it, so relevant are the questions and so readable is the style. This is a must-read for even the most modern and scientifically-minded philosophers. Leibniz adresses questions that are completely independent of science, and can never be answered through science alone. The only way to solve the ancient problem of evil is to continue to think about it in the same way as Leibniz, even though we may never find a solid answer.
Good argument hidden in an overly long book........2002-06-08
Leibniz's argument for the origin of evil in human freedom is perhaps the most famous of all the theodicies, and obviously if you want to read the source then this is it. The argument is easy to grasp and convincing - which made me wonder exactly why it required a book of this length (about 400 pages). The answer is that Leibniz sets out his argument within the first fifty pages and the rest of the book is devoted to meeting arguments that other thinkers (particularly Bayle) had made about theodicy. Leibniz really over did the treatment of Bayle's objections, to such a point that Leibniz himself admitted around page 300 that he was growing tired of refuting Bayle.
Fortunately this edition contains almost all of the original appendicies (bar one which set out the formal argument in Scholastic Latin), the first of which is the main arguments of the book stripped down into analytic logical arguments. This takes only 9 pages and to be honest, it's almost worth skipping the rest of the book and just reading this, as it contains all the important points. At the very least I find it very useful when I want to come back and remind myself what was said.
Book Description
Now regarded as the bane of many college students’ existence, calculus was one of the most important mathematical innovations of the seventeenth century. But a dispute over its discovery sewed the seeds of discontent between two of the greatest scientific giants of all time — Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
Today Newton and Leibniz are generally considered the twin independent inventors of calculus, and they are both credited with giving mathematics its greatest push forward since the time of the Greeks. Had they known each other under different circumstances, they might have been friends. But in their own lifetimes, the joint glory of calculus was not enough for either and each declared war against the other, openly and in secret.
This long and bitter dispute has been swept under the carpet by historians — perhaps because it reveals Newton and Leibniz in their worst light — but The Calculus Wars tells the full story in narrative form for the first time. This vibrant and gripping scientific potboiler ultimately exposes how these twin mathematical giants were brilliant, proud, at times mad and, in the end, completely human.
Customer Reviews:
Tangentially integrated.......2007-07-05
Isaac Newton invented calculus in 1665 and 1666, but chose not to publish due to criticism (by Hooke) of his published work on light. Leibniz invented calculus independently ten years later and published his findings. Things seemed fine between the two men until, primarily through the actions of good-hearted meddlers, controversy was stirred up, words like "plagiarism" were used and bad feelings were had all around. Of the situation, one might wonder, "Who cares?" Well, smart guy, skilled researcher and appropriately named Jason Socrates Bardi did and does and so chose to compose an entire book on the subject. Unfortunately what he produced is unlikely to enlighten the reader much beyond the basic facts, which are set forth early on and detailed later, nor is it likely to entertain due to its repetitive nature (in facts and words), and the awkward tangents taken, whereby he switches from objective writer to, in the very next sentence, commentator, generally without even the use of parentheses. Some form of the word "society" comes up 11 times on page 189 and ten on page 191, "many" occurs five times in one paragraph on page 146, and "escape" is used thrice in one sentence (page 135), "He escaped again, his second escape apparently helped by the fact that he was allowed to escape." Transitions from storyteller mode to commentator mode occur regularly (Pp 120, 156, 167), for example, after explaining that Newton described in a notebook his use of a needle to perform experiments on his own eyes, the author writes, "I saw a copy of this notebook...[p 29]," and gets further off track in telling of an encounter with a mother and son viewing same. Upon describing a process for manufacturing phosphorus, he comments, "I get this picture when I think about it:...[p 105]" Additionally, he chooses to bestow a seemingly official name, used as a chapter title, on an eyebrow-raising occurrence (The Affair of the Eyebrow). And inexplicably writes, "As it was, court intrigues in Hanover at the time were enough to make a soap-opera-loving housewife blush [p 163-164]." Neither man achieves a clear victory in the wars, and although the topic is book worthy, the repetition and clumsy transitions take away from what would otherwise be interesting reading. Better books on math and science: American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Obsessive Genius by Barbara Goldsmith, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, and The Double Helix by James D. Watson.
Great insights.......2007-05-21
I really enjoyed this book and found it offered a great many wonderful tidbits to fill in my understanding of the issues. My most recent previous reading on Leibniz was the wonderful book "The Courtier and the Heretic," which covers Leibniz' interrelationship with Spinoza and the two books fit nicely together. It is clear from Bardi's book that there are many more wonderful possibilities out there many of which have been available for years - a book relating Huygens and Leibniz for example. Perhaps this is one of the most wonderful aspects of a book like this. It points to many sources to explore if one is interested in following up. This book clearly details how the situation got so mixed up and why it will forever remain an embarrassment to those who value the advance of reason and wish human frailties would not create so many bumps on the path.
I did not check these reviews before picking up the book and (not plagiarizing them but independently noting them myself!) found the sheer number of editorial mistakes annoying. One wants to send it back to have it corrected out of habit. These are the sorts of mistakes Word doesn't let happen. I bet I could not even reproduce many of them here without Word automatically correcting them. But I agree this seems to be the editors fault not Bardi's since even if they were Bardi's the editor should have easily caught them. But I myself have seen multiple errors magically appear in a published text that were not there in the original. Perhaps the paperback is corrected? I did not see any mention of this on Bardi's web page either.
But I have a major point to question concerning Bardi's view that Leibniz's vortex argument has been disposed of by Newton's gravity. Would not Einstein's view of the curvature of space achieve essentially the same explanation of Leibniz'? in short, though the short history following the controversy seemed to make Newton's position on gravity the winner (not as an explanation of movements) hasn't more recent history at least shown both theories useful for different purposes and therefore both correct in context?
Perhaps my understanding of this issue is wrong? After all, in the short introduction to the Principia in "On the Shoulders of Giants" edited with commentary by Stephen Hawking he seems to suggest the same thing. What gives? What happened to Relativity?
This is a good read!.......2007-02-09
I thorougly enjoyed this book. I was not aware of the history of Newton and Leibnitz, and so this was a new subject for me. I really feel that in history classes we should read books like this, because it really opens up mathematics. I am going for phD later this year, and so I am starting to review my mathematics textbooks, such as discrete mathematics and calculus. Reading about the extraordinary men that created calculus and battled over it, made calculus seem to me like a living thing, and actually I am looking forward to reviewing my calculus
textbook! On the other hand, if you aren't a science geek, this book is still a good read, because it also gives us psychological insights into two brilliant men and the time period in which they lived.
Bardi Reestablishes What "Genius" Means.......2006-12-29
Jason Bardi wisely decided not to write a book about mathematics. Instead, "The Calculus Wars" is an informative story about a great era of mathematical discovery. We learn much not only about the primary figures, Leibniz and Newton, and their peers (such as John Wallis and Jacob Bernoulli), but also about the contemporary dilettantes and sycophants that buzzed around them, the most damaging of which were the nobility. Too often scientists and science have been used to prop the worthless ambitions of fops, even to today's Al Gore.
Bardi is quite right in noting the superiority of Leibniz's notation. He doesn't quite see that Leibniz's universal language was the beginnings of symbolic logic as developed only in the 1800's. Bardi misses one important (and debatable) point, and it is that Isaac Newton created calculus as an indispensable tool for the mathematical development of his new physics. It is the mark of his towering genius that a revolutionary new mathematics was for him simply a means to an end. For Leibniz, calculus was a form of verification that reason could triumph over everything, certainly over the vast landscape of his endeavors. Leibniz is much more the completed Renaissance man, whereas Newton is the scientist of a future that would be molded by his thoughts.
There are grammatical and typographical errors scattered throughout the book, which jar one's reading. These are clearly not Bardi's fault, rather, some numskull editor at the Avalon Publishing Group cut corners and rushed the book to print. Typical error: Bardi correctly states on page 237 that Newton died in March of 1727, but the incompetent editor didn't catch this line one paragraph later, "He was interred in the nave of Westminster Abbey on March 28, 1726...".
Despite such potholes, Bardi's book is good reading. In these days, when every Hollywood celebrity is called a "genius", it is good to reestablish the word by proper examples, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Baron Gottfried Leibniz.
Fascinating.......2006-10-28
I just got my copy of The Calculus Wars and have been reading it every night. I enjoy the story as well as the information I am learning about history. I am no math buff, but find the insight into both Newton and Leibniz lives interesting and filled with great drama.
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