The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz

Gottfried Leibniz was a remarkable thinker who made fundamental contributions not only to philosophy, but also to the development of modern mathematics and science. At the centre 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. Other chapters examine the intellectual context of his thought and its reception in the eighteenth century. New readers and nonspecialists will find this the most accessible and comprehensive guide to Leibniz currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Leibniz.

• Comprehensive • Systematic • Accessible to non-specialists

1. Introduction Nicholas Jolley; 2. G. W. Leibniz, life and works Roger Ariew; 3. The seventeenth-century intellectual background Stuart Brown; 4. Metaphysics: the early period to the Discourse on Metaphysics Christia Mercer and R. C. Sleigh Jr; 5. Metaphysics: the late period Donald Rutherford; 6. The theory of knowledge Robert McRae; 7. Philosophy and logic G. H. R. Parkinson; 8. Philosophy and Language in Leibniz Donald Rutherford; 9. Leibniz: physics and philosophy Daniel Garber; 10. Leibniz’s ontological and cosmological arguments David Blumenfeld; 11. Perfection and happiness in the best possible world David Blumenfeld; 12. Leibniz’s moral philosophy Gregory Brown; 13. The reception of Leibniz in the eighteenth century Catherine Wilson.