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Philosopher

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

1646–1716 · Rationalism · Early modern

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath who invented calculus independently of Newton, designed calculating machines and binary arithmetic, and wrote on law, history and theology. In metaphysics he held that reality is made of monads, simple substances without parts, each mirroring the universe from its own point of view, coordinated by a harmony God set up in advance.

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He argued that God, being good and wise, chose the best of all possible worlds, which Voltaire mocked in Candide. He gave us the principle of sufficient reason and dreamed of a universal symbolic language in which disputes could be settled by calculation.

Two translated cards.

Start here

Monadology, tr. Robert Latta or Ariew and Garber.

The system in a few pages.

Quotations

Key ideas

  • Sufficient reason

    Nothing happens without a reason why it is so and not otherwise.

  • Monads

    Simple substances each with its own perspective, coordinated by pre-established harmony.

  • Best possible world

    Evil exists, but no better overall world was possible.

Major works

  • Theodicy (1710)

    The best possible world.

  • Monadology (1714)

    Ninety short sections.

  • New Essays on Human Understanding (1704)

    Reply to Locke.

Influences

Influenced

Common misreadings

  • 'Best of all possible worlds' does not say this world is pleasant.
  • Monads having 'no windows' does not mean they are unrelated; harmony relates them.

Famous lines Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz never said

None of the lines this library files for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

Monadology, tr. Robert Latta or Ariew and Garber. The system in a few pages.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “The monads have no windows, through which anything could come in or go out.” (Monadology §7, tr. Robert Latta, Paraphrase or translation).

What is the most misquoted line?

None of the lines this library files for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Sufficient reason: Nothing happens without a reason why it is so and not otherwise.