The Science of Right in Leibniz's Moral and Political Philosophy PDF Download

Author: Christopher Johns
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1780935404
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Studies of Gottfried Leibniz's moral and political philosophy typically focus on metaphysical perfection, happiness, or love. In this new reading of Leibniz, Christopher Johns shows that it is based on a 'science of right'. Based on the deontic concepts of jus (right) and obligation, this science of right is established in Leibniz's early writings on jurisprudence and depended on throughout several of his major late writings. Johns shows that the moral rightness of an action is grounded in the rights and obligations derived from the agent's capacity for freedom. This new interpretation of Leibniz's moral philosophy compares Leibniz's positions with Grotius, Pufendorf, Hobbes, Locke, and Kant. Providing a comprehensive examination of Leibniz's most important writings on natural right, John's argues that Leibniz, properly understood, provides a compelling account of the grounds of morality and of political institutions-an account relevant to present philosophical debates.

Author: John Hostler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ethics, Modern
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Author: C. D Broad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521206914
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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This book, first published in 1975, provides critical and comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of Leibniz. C.D. Broad was Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge from 1933 to 1953 and this book is based on his undergraduate lectures on Leibniz. Broad died in 1971 and Dr Lewy has since edited the book for publication. Leibniz is, of course, recognized as a major figure in all courses in the history of philosophy, but he has perhaps been less well served by textbook writers than most other philosophers. Broad has provided here a characteristically shrewd and sympathetic survey which further confirms his known virtues as an historian and expositor. It is a very clear, detailed and orderly guide to what is notoriously a most difficult (and sometimes disorderly) philosophical system; it provides a masterful introduction to the subject.

Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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"Theodicy" is a book of philosophy by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz published in 1710, whose optimistic approach to the problem of evil is thought to have inspired Voltaire's "Candide". Much of the work consists of a response to the ideas of the French philosopher Pierre Bayle, with whom Leibniz carried on a debate for many years. The "Theodicy" tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. It must be the best possible and most balanced world, because it was created by an all powerful and all knowing God, who would not choose to create an imperfect world if a better world could be known to him or possible to exist. In effect, apparent flaws that can be identified in this world must exist in every possible world, because otherwise God would have chosen to create the world that excluded those flaws. Leibniz distinguishes three forms of evil: moral, physical, and metaphysical. Moral evil is sin, physical evil is pain, and metaphysical evil is limitation. God permits moral and physical evil for the sake of greater goods, and metaphysical evil is unavoidable since any created universe must necessarily fall short of God's absolute perfection.

Author: Julia Jorati
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107192676
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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A fresh and thorough exploration of Leibniz's often controversial theories, including his thought on teleology, contingency, freedom, and moral responsibility.

Author: Nicholas Jolley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134456158
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was hailed by Bertrand Russell as 'one of the supreme intellects of all time'. A towering figure in seventeenth-century philosophy, his complex thought has been championed and satirized in equal measure, most famously in Voltaire's Candide. In this outstanding introduction to his philosophy, Nicholas Jolley introduces and assesses the whole of Leibniz's philosophy. Beginning with an introduction to Leibniz's life and work, he carefully introduces the core elements of Leibniz's metaphysics: his theories of substance, identity and individuation; monads and space and time; and his important debate over the nature of space and time with Newton's champion, Samuel Clarke. He then introduces Leibniz's theories of mind, knowledge, and innate ideas, showing how Leibniz anticipated the distinction between conscious and unconscious states, before examining his theory of free will and the problem of evil. An important feature of the book is its introduction to Leibniz's moral and political philosophy, an overlooked aspect of his work. The final chapter assesses legacy and the impact of his philosophy on philosophy as a whole, particularly on the work of Immanuel Kant. Throughout, Nicholas Jolley places Leibniz in relation to some of the other great philosophers, such as Descartes, Spinoza and Locke, and discusses Leibniz's key works, such as the Monadology and Discourse on Metaphysics.

Author: John Rawls
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 067425578X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
The premier political philosopher of his day, John Rawls, in three decades of teaching at Harvard, has had a profound influence on the way philosophical ethics is approached and understood today. This book brings together the lectures that inspired a generation of students--and a regeneration of moral philosophy. It invites readers to learn from the most noted exemplars of modern moral philosophy with the inspired guidance of one of contemporary philosophy's most noteworthy practitioners and teachers. Central to Rawls's approach is the idea that respectful attention to the great texts of our tradition can lead to a fruitful exchange of ideas across the centuries. In this spirit, his book engages thinkers such as Leibniz, Hume, Kant, and Hegel as they struggle in brilliant and instructive ways to define the role of a moral conception in human life. The lectures delineate four basic types of moral reasoning: perfectionism, utilitarianism, intuitionism, and--the ultimate focus of Rawls's course--Kantian constructivism. Comprising a superb course on the history of moral philosophy, they also afford unique insight into how John Rawls has transformed our view of this history.

Author: Larry M. Jorgensen
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199660034
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This volume offers a reappraisal of a classic text of European philosophy, Leibniz's 'Theodicy'. New essays from leading scholars open a window on the historical context of the work and give close attention to its subtle and enduring philosophical arguments.

Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Publisher: Elementary Knowledge of Philos
ISBN: 9781728915456
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Regarding Bertrand Russell (Nobel Laureate, 1950) in "The Problems of Philosophy" (1912), Bibliographical Note:The student who wishes to acquire an elementary knowledge of philosophy will find it both easier and more profitable to read some of the works of the great philosophers than to attempt to derive an all-round view from handbooks. The following are specially recommended: Plato: Republic, especially Books VI and VII. Descartes: Meditations. Spinoza: Ethics. Leibniz: The Monadology. Berkeley: Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Hume: Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Kant: Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics.About the Series "Elementary Knowledge of Philosophy":Volume 1: PLATO: THE REPUBLIC / THE MEDITATIONS OF DESCARTES. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell.Chapter I. APPEARANCE AND REALITY Chapter II. THE EXISTENCE OR MATTER Chapter III. THE NATURE OF MATTER Chapter IV. IDEALISM Chapter V. KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE BY DESCRIPTION Volume 2: SPINOZA: ETHICS / LEIBNIZ: THE MONADOLOGY. / BERKELEY: THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell.Chapter VI.ON INDUCTION Chapter VII.ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES Chapter VIII.HOW A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IS POSSIBLE Chapter IX.THE WORLD OF UNIVERSALS Chapter X.ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSALS Volume. 3: HUME: ENQUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING./ KANT: PROLEGOMENA TO ANY FUTURE METAPHYSICS. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell.Chapter XI.ON INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE Chapter XII.TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD Chapter XIII.KNOWLEDGE, ERROR, AND PROBABLE OPINION Chapter XIV.THE LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE Chapter XV.THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY" Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order" (Latin: Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata), usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical treatise written in Latin by Benedict de Spinoza. It was written between 1664 and 1665 and was first published posthumously in 1677. The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the method of Euclid in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and axioms from which he attempts to derive hundreds of propositions and corollaries, such as "When the Mind imagines its own lack of power, it is saddened by it", "A free man thinks of nothing less than of death", and "The human Mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the Body, but something of it remains which is eternal." The Monadology" is one of Gottfried Leibniz's best known works representing his later philosophy. It is a short text which sketches in some 90 paragraphs a metaphysics of simple substances, or monads.The monad, the word and the idea, belongs to the Western philosophical tradition and has been used by various authors. Leibniz, who was exceptionally well read, could not have ignored this, but he did not use it himself until mid-1696 when he was sending for print his New System. Apparently he found with it a convenient way to expose his own philosophy as it was elaborated in this period. What he proposed can be seen as a modification of occasionalism developed by latter-day Cartesians. Leibniz surmised that there are indefinitely many substances individually 'programmed' to act in a predetermined way, each substance being coordinated with all the others. This is the pre-established harmony which solved the mind-body problem, but at the cost of declaring any interaction between substances a mere appearance."Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous", or simply Three Dialogues, is a 1713 book on metaphysics and idealism written by George Berkeley. Taking the form of a dialogue, the book was written as a response to the criticism Berkeley experienced after publishing A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.

Author: Donald Rutherford
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019028675X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The revival of Leibniz studies in the past twenty-five years has cast important new light on both the context and content of Leibniz's philosophical thought. Where earlier English-language scholarship understood Leibniz's philosophy as issuing from his preoccupations with logic and language, recent work has recommended an account on which theological, ethical, and metaphysical themes figure centrally in Leibniz's thought throughout his career. The significance of these themes to the development of Leibniz's philosophy is the subject of increasing attention by philosophers and historians. This collection of new essays by a distinguished group of scholars offers an up-to-date overview of the current state of Leibniz research. In focusing on nature and freedom, the volume revisits two key topics in Leibniz's thought, on which he engaged both contemporary and historical arguments. Important contributions to Leibniz scholarship in their own right, these articles collectively provide readers a framework in which to better situate Leibniz's distinctive philosophy of nature and the congenial home for a morally significant freedom that he took it to provide.