Leibniz: Political Writings by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Leibniz's political and ethical writing long has been neglected, and with this new edition Professor Riley makes available the most representative pieces from Leibniz's political theory. This new edition, specially prepared for this series, is the first to make a considerable number of Leibniz's writings available in English, and includes three previously unpublished manuscripts, a selection of political letters, an introduction, notes, and a critical biography.GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ was born on July 1, 1646, in Leipzig, Germany. Leibniz, who had already shown symptoms of a prodigious brain, enrolled at the University of Leipzig at the age of fifteen to study law, mathematics, and philosophy. Because Leipzig refused to offer him a doctorate due to his youth, Leibniz moved to Altdorf, near Nuremberg, where he got his doctorate in 1666, just before his twenty-first birthday. Leibniz went into the public service shortly after, first with the Elector of Mainz and then with the ducal house of Braunschweig-Lueneburg. Leibniz's diplomatic missions took him to Paris, London, Amsterdam, and then Hanover, where he settled.
Leibniz met the prominent thinkers of the day, including philosophers Nicolas de Malebranche and Baruch de Spinoza, as well as mathematician Christiaan Huygens, as a result of his travels. Leibniz was a real polymath who wrote extensively on legal, cultural, and political issues, compiled an official history of the Braunschweig family, and contributed essential works to mathematics, theology, and philosophy. Leibniz articulated his metaphysical framework, including his view of physical reality, the motion and resistance of bodies, and the place of the divine within the dynamic universe, in his two important philosophical works, the Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology. Leibniz was made a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, president of the Berlin Academy, privy councillor to royalty, and a baronet of the empire for his diplomatic and scientific achievements.
Despite this, Leibniz's final years were marred by illness and growing disdain from those who saw him as a religious heretic. On November 14, 1716, he died in Hannover. A code of international law, Systema theologicum (1687), and Essais de theodicee (1710), his most important work in theology, are among Leibniz's other writings.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521358996 |
| ISBN 10 | 052135899X |
| Title | Leibniz: Political Writings |
| Author | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz |
| Series | Cambridge Texts In The History Of Political Thought |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 1988-11-10 |
| Number of pages | 262 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |