Philosophy Midterm Exam Study Guide

. Leibniz's Life and Context (Pages 236-238)

• Life and Works:

  • Born in Leipzig, 1646; died in Hanover, 1716.

  • Protestant family with legal background.

  • Early interest in classics, Scholasticism, and modern philosophy (Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes).

  • Studied mathematics, physics, law, history, and alchemy.

  • Invented calculus independently of Newton.

  • Worked as historian, librarian, and diplomat.

  • Founded the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

  • Sought to unify Catholic and Protestant Churches.

  • Major works: "Nouveaux essais," "Théodicée," "Discours de métaphysique," "Monadologie."

• Intellectual Context:

  • Bridged rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza) and Scholasticism (Aristotelianism, medieval thought).

  • Synthesized philosophy, theology, and science.

  • Represented the end of the Baroque era in philosophy.

II. Monads and Metaphysics (Pages 239-241)

• Critique of Descartes' Physics:

  • Rejected static view of nature; emphasized force (vis viva) as the basis of motion.

  • Shifted from physics of extension to physics of energy.

• Monads:

  • Simple, indivisible, unextended substances.

  • "Formal atoms" (not material).

  • Created and annihilated by God.

  • "Windowless" - no causal interaction.

  • Possess qualities, differ from each other, and change internally.

  • Each monad is a "vis repraesentativa" (force of representation), reflecting the entire universe from its unique perspective.

  • Monads have varying degrees of clarity in their representations.

• Pre-Established Harmony:

  • God pre-programmed monads to act in harmony without direct interaction.

  • Analogy of synchronized clocks.

  • God is the source of our ideas and knowledge.

  • Monads have "windows" that open onto God.

III. God and Theodicy (Pages 242-246)

• Proofs for God's Existence:

  • Modified ontological argument (possibility and existence of God).

  • A posteriori argument (contingent beings imply God's existence).

• Theodicy:

  • Justifies God's goodness, human freedom, and the origin of evil.

  • Metaphysical Optimism: This is the best of all possible worlds, with maximum good and minimum necessary evil.

  • Types of Evil:

    • Metaphysical: Imperfection due to finitude.

    • Physical: Allows for higher virtues and greater good.

    • Moral: Deficiency permitted for the sake of freedom.

  • Freedom and Divine Prescience:

    • God's foreknowledge doesn't negate human freedom.

    • God's knowledge: Pure intellection, vision, middle knowledge (futuribles).

    • Contingency becomes necessity after God's will decides.

  • Justification of Sin: Freedom to sin is preferable to its absence.

IV. Theory of Knowledge (Pages 242-244)

• Perception and Apperception:

  • Hierarchy of perceptions: insensible, sensations, apperceptions.

  • Apperception: Clear, conscious perception with memory (human souls).

• Truths of Reason vs. Truths of Fact:

  • Truths of Reason: Necessary, a priori, based on contradiction.

  • Truths of Fact: Contingent, a posteriori, based on sufficient reason.

• Individual Notion: Each monad contains its entire reality.

• Innatism: All ideas come from the internal activity of monads.

• Logic:

  • Aim for an "ars inveniendi" (art of invention) to discover truths mathematically.

  • Concept of "mathesis universalis" (universal mathematics).