Philosophy: Gottfried Leibniz Essay

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Gottfried Leibniz, a German philosopher, was born in 1646 and died in 1716. He is renown for his works in philosophy, mathematics, physics and various other intellectual pursuits. His contributions to mathematics included the independent founding of infinitesimal calculus, mathematical notations, works on binary numbers and mechanical calculators. In physics, he was credited for his theories on the relativity of motion, space, and time, as well as studies on kinetic energy, potential energy and the conservation of momentum. Philosophically, Leibniz believed that the universe was created by God and such a universe is “the best God could have created” (deemed as the “Optimistic” view). Like Descartes, Leibniz advocated rationalistic thinking which applied logical reasoning to the basis of principles rather than empirical observations. Some of his core principles include the concept of identity/contradiction which supposes that if a proposition is true, then the negative of that proposition has to be false. He also believed that two substances can be discerned by comparing their properties (e.g. Identical substances share the same properties). Leibniz believed that everything that is must be so for a reason, also known as the rule of “sufficient reason”. He also believed that God had pre-established a harmony in the world through which substances interact with each other. This notion coincides with his ideas of “monads”, which he believed to be the based component of forces and

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