Leibniz

An annotated leibniz reader, with introduction and glossary by sarah carvallo-plus, doctor of philosophy new. to be published in september 2001.

The reader considers the problems, styles, works and phases proper to leibnizian philosophy. in point of fact it presents excerpts from every important juncture of leibniz's work, grasping the coherence of it and the metaphysical horizon.

The reader is structured around four major problems: 1. one and many; 2. the individual; 3. evil; 4. logic.
1. the concept of one and many is common to all philosophy since parmenides but leibniz recasts the notion in a modern light: it's a matter of grasping the fundamental unity of the real despite its diversity. this unity can be understood either as a whole, consisting of a single world, consistent and coherent despite the constant changes occurring in it, or as a monad -- the metaphysical equivalent to the number one -- which represents the smallest building block of everything.
2. consideration of the one and the many permits an analysis of the individual's status as a being, simultaneously one and many. the individual exists in various ways and on various levels: as an aggregate of matter, as life, as a person or as a conscience. but in all these guises, it expresses a unique point of view as regards the universe.
3. there remains a sticking point: human beings conceive of the many as evil. and multiplicity is indeed akin to disorder, to the breakdown of essential cohesion, to noise, to the irrational.
How is the creator's bounty to be savedoe theodicy provides the key to this theological, moral and physical problem of evil by contemplating the idea and the origins of the world.
4. finally, reflecting on the real evokes the reason -- human or divine -- which characterizes the thought processes of the real, and the language in which it expresses its understanding of the one and the many. it is then worthwhile to lay out a set of logical principles underlying a rationality capable of taking in the root causes of all things.

Leibniz appears on the 2001-2002 agrégation examination.

No recent general reader covers these particular aspects of leibniz. only specialized literature concerning the individual problems exists. the publication of this book therefore seems opportune.

N° 3 192 pages 14x19 cm 63f - 9,60 euro ean: 978 201145410 2 isbn: 201145410-7 nuart: 14 5410 7 audience to the extent that this book offers a comprehensive overview of leibnizian philosophy, its use is first and foremost appropriate for all students of philosophy, whether for their personal acquisition of an encyclopaedic culture of philosophy which necessarily filters through leibniz, or for those whose courses require the study of a particular leibniz text. in fact, his body of work seems so vast and polymorphous that the student gets lost in the labyrinth of leibnizian analysis: this reader offers, on the other hand, a common thread permitting every specialized question to be situated in the larger leibnizian universe. in that sense, the reader applies to every level of university study up to and including preparation for the agrégation examination.
It can likewise be applied to students in preparatory courses, whether literary or economic (for instance as regards the problems of evil, representation, or the person). it may also allow teachers of high school or preparatory courses to hone their understanding of certain themes and permit a more successful study of leibnizian texts in class.


Summary introduction - the multiple faces of leibniz - the leibnizian attempt to identify and consolidate elements of philosophy chronology texts:

1. construction of the system - research and principles - ideas and the spirit - matter and the body - expression - the monads 2. the concrete living individual - criteria for the individual - interior function of the individual - the person and the community of persons 3. evil.
- the best of possible worlds - contingency and freedom - the encyclopedia glossary bibliography