Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s Followers (445)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Born

in Leipzig, Germany

July 01, 1646

Died

November 14, 1716

Website

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz/

Genre

Philosophy, Science, Psychology

Influences

Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Nichol ...more

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Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz was a German polymath and philosopher.

He occupies a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy. Most scholars believe Leibniz developed calculus independently of Isaac Newton, and Leibniz's notation has been widely used ever since it was published. It was only in the 20th century that his Law of Continuity and Transcendental Law of Homogeneity found mathematical implementation (by means of non-standard analysis). He became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators. While working on adding automatic multiplication and division to Pascal's calculator, he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685 and invented the Leibniz wheel, used in Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz was a German polymath and philosopher.

He occupies a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy. Most scholars believe Leibniz developed calculus independently of Isaac Newton, and Leibniz's notation has been widely used ever since it was published. It was only in the 20th century that his Law of Continuity and Transcendental Law of Homogeneity found mathematical implementation (by means of non-standard analysis). He became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators. While working on adding automatic multiplication and division to Pascal's calculator, he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685 and invented the Leibniz wheel, used in the arithmometer, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator. He also refined the binary number system, which is the foundation of virtually all digital computers.

In philosophy, Leibniz is most noted for his optimism, i.e., his conclusion that our Universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could have created, an idea that was often lampooned by others such as Voltaire. Leibniz, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, was one of the three great 17th century advocates of rationalism. The work of Leibniz anticipated modern logic and analytic philosophy, but his philosophy also looks back to the scholastic tradition, in which conclusions are produced by applying reason of first principles or prior definitions rather than to empirical evidence.

Leibniz made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in philosophy, probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. He wrote works on philosophy, politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology. Leibniz's contributions to this vast array of subjects were scattered in various learned journals, in tens of thousands of letters, and in unpublished manuscripts. He wrote in several languages, but primarily in Latin, French, and German. There is no complete gathering of the writings of Leibniz. ...more

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 9,805 ratings · 329 reviews · 521 distinct works • Similar authors

	Philosophical Essays by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Roger Ariew (Editor/Translator), Daniel Garber (Editor/Translator) 3.91 avg rating — 4,914 ratings — published 1716 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Roger Ariew (Editor), Daniel Garber (Editor) 3.90 avg rating — 1,470 ratings — published 1686 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	G. W. Leibniz's Monadology: An Edition for Students by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Nicholas Rescher (Translator) 3.87 avg rating — 1,382 ratings — published 1714 — 183 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Monadology and Other Philosophical Essays by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Paul Schrecker (translator), Anne Martin Schrecker (translator) 3.93 avg rating — 342 ratings — published 1714 — 63 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Discourse on Metaphysics 3.54 avg rating — 325 ratings — published 1686 — 68 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man & the Origin of Evil 3.56 avg rating — 230 ratings — published 1710 — 81 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Discourse on Metaphysics/The Monadology by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, George R. Montgomery (Translation), Albert R. Chandler (Revision) 3.73 avg rating — 186 ratings — published 1992 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New Essays on Human Understanding 4.05 avg rating — 151 ratings — published 1704 — 104 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Samuel Clarke, Roger Ariew really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 112 ratings — published 1716 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Political Writings by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Patrick Riley (Editor) 3.80 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 1972 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz…

Quotes by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (?)

“This is the best of all possible worlds.”
― Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

77 likes

“He who hasn't tasted bitter things hasn't earned sweet things.”
― Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays

58 likes

“Nihil est sine ratione.
[There is nothing without a reason.]”
― Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

tags: leibniz, nothing, reason

57 likes

See all Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's quotes »

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