Leibniz and the consequences : an essay on the great European universal scholar

Leibniz was probably the last universal scholar in modern times who made original and innovative achievements in all the essential fields of knowledge of his time: as a reform-oriented lawyer, a multilateral thinking diplomat, as a mathematician of infinitesimal calculus, as the inventor of a calculating machine and in the mining of horizontal wind power, as an organizer of science and as one of the first historians who strived for source-critical methodical objectivity. However, this baroque diversity can only be understood from the center of a monadological philosophy, which wants to establish the unity of scientific worldview and metaphysical concept of the world. It is distorted in the classical reception because only Leibniz the Theodicy was known. The topicality of Leibniz today consists in re-exposing the original basic idea of unity in diversity and asking how it can be made fruitful for philosophical and political thought in the 21st century. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Leibniz und die Folgen by Jörg Zimmer, published by J.B. Metzler, imprint of Springer-Verlag GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2018. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. Leibniz, probably the last universal scholar of modernity, produced original and innovative achievements in essential fields of knowledge of his time: as a reform-oriented jurist, a multilaterally thinking diplomat, as a mathematician of infinitesimal calculus, as the inventor of a calculating machine, as an organizer of science and as one of the first historians to work in a source-critical manner. Jorg Zimmer knowledgeably exposes Leibniz's basic philosophical ideas and provides an undisguised view of a thinker who can be made fruitful for the philosophical and political thinking of the 21st century in a surprising way. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Leibniz und die Folgen by Jorg Zimmer, published by J.B. Metzler, imprint of Springer-Verlag GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2018. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors. Prof. Dr. Jorg Zimmer studied philosophy and literature in Osnabruck and has been professor of philosophy at the Spanish University of Girona since 1997 Contents About the Author Introduction Leibniz in Context: The Life of a Universal Scholar Childhood, Youth and Study Time Productive Years in Paris Detours to Hanover The Italian Journey Theoria cum praxi: The Academy Project and the Late Years Leibniz and the Problem of Metaphysics The New System Discours de Métaphysique: The Complete Concept of Individual Substance The Concept of the Monad Leibniz Reception from the Enlightenment to Hegel The Theodicy Problem Transformations in the Enlightenment: Wolff and Baumgarten Changed Reception Conditions: Lessing and Herder “Deceptive Terms.” Kant and the Consequences “Strike Fire from Every Pebble”: Was Goethe a Leibnizian? Leibniz in German Idealism: Schelling and Hegel Perspectives on Leibniz The Topicality of the Logician Leibniz: Bertrand Russell Ernst Cassirer and the “Folds of Consciousness” Hans Heinz Holz and the Discovery of the Dialectician Leibniz Unity in Diversity: Leibniz Today Philosophy as an Own Form of Theory The Relevance of the Concept of Freedom Metaphysics and Politics: The Order of Compossibility Closing Words: “The Place of the Other” Bibliography Leibniz Editions in Chronological Order Further Literature