-Leibniz philosophy

Man only uses truth when it is useful to himself; As long as the fallacy is of temporary use, people will be willing to defend his enthusiasm for fallacy; Either show it off as a half-told fact, or use it as a substitute to bridge those things that have been tenoned on the surface.

-Goethe

Modern rationalism initiated by Descartes has reached a new height through Spinoza's revision and development, but some internal contradictions contained in it have not been solved. The German philosopher Leibniz found another way to solve these contradictions, thus bringing modern rationalism to its peak.

We have seen that it is difficult to find a clear and definite source of thought from Descartes. Although Spinoza tried to revise Descartes' theory, which was a step closer to the truth, he did not fundamentally solve the difficulties encountered by Descartes' philosophy. As a rising star, Leibniz's thought originated from Spinoza's philosophy, but he took a different path from Spinoza. If Spinoza's philosophy is a telescope, Leibniz's philosophy is a microscope. His goal is to create a new synthesis to transcend the seemingly irreconcilable conflicts between the early rationalist traditions in various fields of rational activities.

Leibniz is not a professional philosopher like Kant. Not only has he never been employed as a university philosophy professor, but his interests are extremely extensive. He thinks that philosophical research is just one of his many activities. As the Germans correctly called him, he is an all-rounder-"academician of the Academy of Sciences". He made amazing discoveries in mathematics, physics, botany, logic, linguistics, religion, philosophy and other disciplines.

Leibniz's philosophy mainly tries to reconcile the contradiction between the mechanistic view and the religious purpose view in natural science. Leibniz is different from Descartes and Spinoza. He is obviously not so rational and absorbs some empirical elements. He realized the one-sidedness and imperfection of rationalism and took a compromise attitude towards empiricism and rationalism. This undoubtedly played a role in the disintegration of the rationalist philosophy building. In particular, Leibniz's reform in the source of ideas may lead to the collapse of rationalist philosophy. In this sense, we can say that just as Hume declared the end of empiricism through his own philosophy, Leibniz actually declared the end of rationalism through his own philosophy. Modern rationalist philosophy cannot go further on the basis of Leibniz's philosophy, but must change its course.

Intellectually speaking, Leibniz can be called one of the most talented people at any time. Leibniz once said that "the possible world is for the best people", which is really a favored tone. In the letter to Engels, Marx also made it clear that "you know, I admire Leibniz". Of course, this does not mean that we should fully affirm Leibniz's philosophy and even worship it. In fact, in the whole historical development, he can only be a small star with weak starlight in the vast universe and sky. And morally, he is slightly inferior to Spinoza. Leibniz had deep academic contacts with Spinoza, but since Spinoza was called the incarnation of the devil by conservatives and theologians, Leibniz denied that he had anything to do with Spinoza from the beginning. When a completely harmless letter appeared in Spinoza's legacy, he was very upset. Leibniz never talked about Spinoza except to cover up the benefits he got from Spinoza contemptuously and deliberately.

Leibniz's philosophical system is "monadic theory", which holds that monads are the foundation of everything and the world is a predetermined harmonious system composed of monads. In epistemology, he advocates the theory of latent innate ideas and is a rationalist; Politically, he advocates enlightened autocracy and is a conservative.

The thoughts of great philosophers are always ahead of the times, and contain many contents that are not understood by their contemporaries, but are affirmed by the later development of philosophy and science. We should also treat Leibniz's philosophy scientifically and realistically, because he is also a great philosopher.

1. Renowned, high-ranking official and generous:

Leibniz's life