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NAME
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
BIOGRAPHICAL
DETAILS He was born in Germany in 1646 and died in 1716
German philosopher, mathematician, and political adviser, important both as a
metaphysician and as a logician and distinguished also for his independent invention
of the differential and ​integral calculus​.

3 MAIN IDEAS
(Briefly explain 1. Leibniz rejected Spinoza’s view that there is only one substance, his view was
them) that there are an infinity of individual substances which he named “monads”.
This is very similar to Democritus’ atoms and geometrical points of
Pythagoras, it constitutes a truth based on observation, metaphysics and
rationality. The fundamental characteristic of Leibniz’s “monadology” is that a
monad is a unified, independent substance also are the ultimate indivisible
elements of reality of which all material things are constituted.

2. Everything happens only if God wants it that way. The God will is the only
force capable of changing reality, (determinism) and everything that happens
had already been planned by God.

3. Bodily continuity: believed that personal identity resides in our body and as
long as you kept your same body you were certified to still be you. The
problem was where he knew that every 7 years our cells are renewed, which
means that physically our body changes continually. Even with this he
sustained that everything, including plants and objects had a mind or
something analogous to one, this, different from where he thought personal
identity is.
HOW DO WE Leibniz is definitely a Rationalist, actually, he is one of the 3 most important
EVIDENCE representants of this movement, there are many reasons why, but some of them are:
RATIONALISM IN
HIS IDEAS?
● Most of his philosophy was specially focused on a rational approach of
metaphysics. For him, every physical aspect has a physical and rational cause
and explanation (a clear aspect of rationalism)

● We can also see this scientific and rational approach when we see some of his
theories and ideas. For example, with bodily continuity, he introduced one of
the principles of the cells, and the fact that they renew every 7 years; this is, in
fact, one of the basis of biology, and the physical analysis of every
organism.This is also related with the fact that he introduced the “monads” a
similar principle to atoms, on of the first basis of Physics. All theories that
evidences his rational, scientific and physical approach of metaphysics

● Even though he believed in God as the one who knew all, he never thought
that he could have any influence in the physical world. For him, God exists as a
witness of everything, the one that knows everything, but that doesn’t control
anything. He has not the ability of changing or explaining the physical world,
just science and rationality could do it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | Biography & Facts | Britannica. (2021). In ​Encyclopædia

Britannica.​ ​https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz