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- Leibniz believes that prima facie this might be a contradictory idea, not least because none of us – no matter how committed a believer we might be – have the ‘idea’ of God, meaning that we cannot know that a perfect being is even conceivable. In other words, Leibniz sets out to show that all of the perfections can co-exist in the same entity.
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May 25, 2023 · How does Gottfried Leibniz attempt to demonstrate the existence of God as a matter of logical and metaphysical necessity? Does he succeed?
- Luke Dunne
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- The Ontological Argument
- The Cosmological Argument
- The Argument from The Eternal Truth
- The Argument from The pre-established Harmony
- But Maybe We Should Keep An Open Mind…
- Gottfried Leibniz: A True Rationalist
The ontological argument is an attempt to define the difference between “existence” and “essence.” “Any ordinary person or thing, it is held, exists, and, on the other hand, has certain qualities, which make up his or its essence,”says Russell. Russell uses an analogy from Shakespeare to demonstrate this. Hamlet, being a character in a play, certai...
The cosmological argument is a slightly more complicated version of the “First Cause” argument, which dates back to Aristotle and his claim for an “Unmoved Mover.” “Everything finite must have a cause, which, in turn, must have a cause, and so on…” The possibility of causes cannot continue infinitely, and so the first in the series must be uncaused...
If we say, “It is raining,” or “It is sunny,” we may be stating a truth, or we may not. But, if we say 2 plus 2 equals 4, it is always true. “All statements that have to do with essence not with existence, are either always true or never true,” says Russell. We can describe statements that are always true as eternal truths. It’s a neat argument. “T...
Russell believes that this argument has little to recommend it, and is based on Leibniz’s theory about monads, which are souls that mirror the Universe. We know that clocks all keep time with one another, providing they are working properly and someone has set them to the right time. Therefore, according to Leibniz, “…there must have been a single ...
This delightful and thought-provoking story appears in Jostein Gaardner’s philosophical novel, Sophie’s World. “A Russian astronaut and a Russian brain surgeon were once discussing religion. The brain surgeon was a Christian, but the astronaut was not. “The astronaut said, ‘I’ve been out in space many times but I’ve never seen God or angels.’ And t...
Leibniz was a true rationalist, who upheld the belief that the actual truth about reality could only be achieved through the exercising of pure reason. Bertrand Russell says: “His philosophical hypotheses, though fantastic, are very clear, and capable of precise expression. Even his monads can still be useful as suggesting possible ways of viewing ...
- Janet Cameron
Dec 22, 2007 · Leibniz is telling us that each finite substance is the result of a different perspective that God can take of the universe and that each created substance is an emanation of God. The argument here can be expressed in several different ways.
Leibniz frequently uses the notion of expression, but it is not easy to see what expression is. This paper focuses on the case of the expression of God, which is prominent in the Discourse on Metaphysics. Leibniz says there that finite substances express God.
- Stewart Duncan
- 2015
This series condenses the results of that scrutiny: four arguments toward the biblical God and their implications. We’ll walk through Leibniz’ arguments one at a time, first in syllogism, then in detail, then in simple English.
By identifying justice with love of God and harmony between all, Leibniz brings to fruition the ethical implications of his metaphysical inquiries into God’s perfection and pre-established harmony. Ethics and metaphysics are, for Leibniz, never far apart.
In several papers dating from 1676 onwards, Leibniz explained why he considered the traditional proof of the existence of God (as invented by St. Anselm and modified by Descartes and Spinoza) as insufficient.
