A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz
With an Appendix of Leading Passages

This book provides the original text of A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz, which was first published in 1900.

Bertrand Russell (Author)

9781107680166, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 June 2013

332 pages
21 x 14.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.44 kg

This book provides the original text of A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz, which was first published in 1900. An example of Russell's early thought, the work took particular inspiration from the letters to Arnauld and the Discours de Métaphysique in developing a comprehensive theory of Leibniz's system. The text of the first edition is provided in its entirety, including an appendix containing extracts from Leibniz, classified according to subject. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Leibniz and the early philosophy of Russell.

1. Leibniz's premisses
2. Necessary propositions and the law of contradiction
3. Contingent propositions and the law of sufficient reason
4. The conception of substance
5. The identity of indiscernibles and the law of continuity. Possibility and compossibility
6. Why did Leibniz believe in an external world?
7. The philosophy of matter: (a) as the outcome of the principles of dynamics
8. The philosophy of matter (continued), (b) as explaining continuity and extension
9. The labyrinth of the continuum
10. The theory of space and time and its relation to monadism
11. The nature of monads in general
12. Soul and body
13. Confused and unconscious perception
14. Leibniz's theory of knowledge
15. Proofs of the existence of God
16. Leibniz's ethics
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]