Birthday: July 1, 1646

Nationality: German
Famous: Philosophers Mathematicians
Died at Age: 70
Sun Sign: Cancer
Born In: Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony, Holy
Roman Empire
Family:
Father: Friedrich Leibniz
Mother: Catharina Schmuck
Died On: November 14, 1716
Place of Death: Hanover
City: Leipzig, Germany

GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNEZ Discoveries/Inventions: Infinitesimal Calculus

Education: University of Altdorf, Friedrich Schiller

University of Jena, University of Leipzig
Personal Background: Childhood & Early Life
 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born on July 1, 1646 in Leipzig, Germany. His father,
Friedrich Leibniz, was the Professor of Moral Philosophy and the Chairman of the faculty
of philosophy at Leipzig University. He was also a lawyer and notary register. Gottfried’s
mother, Catharina nee Schmuck, was his third wife.
 Gottfried was the elder of his parents’ two children, having a younger sister named
Anna Katharina Leibniz Löffler. From his father’s two previous marriages, he also had
five half-siblings; Anna Rosina Leibniz, Johann Friedrich Leibniz, Elisabeth Leibniz, Anna
Magdalena Leibniz, and Susanna Leibniz.
 His father died in 1652. Thereafter, he was brought up by his mother, gaining his moral
and religious values from her. These would one day play an important part in his
philosophy.
 In April 1661, Gottfried Leibniz enrolled at the University of Leipzig with philosophy and
mathematics. In addition to that, he also had to study rhetoric, Latin, Greek and
Hebrew. Unfortunately, the standard of teaching in mathematics was not good at
Leipzig.
 On June 9, 1663, Leibniz defended his baccalaureate thesis, ‘Disputatio Metaphysica de
Principio Individui’ (Metaphysical Disputation on the Principle of Individuation), which
 earned him his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. Thereafter, he spent the summer term
at Jena, studying mathematics with Erhard Weigel.
 By October 1663, Leibniz was back at Leipzig, working for his M.A. in philosophy,
defending his dissertation, ‘Specimen Quaestionum Philosophicarum ex Jure
collectarum’ (An Essay of Collected Philosophical Problems of Right) on February 7,
1664. Thereafter he began to study law.
 On September 28, 1665, on defending his dissertation entitled ‘De conditionibus’ (On
Conditions), he earned his bachelor’s degree in law. Next, he started working for his
habilitation, defending his thesis in March 1666. It was later published in book form as,
‘Dissertatio de arte combinatoria’ (On the Combinatorial Art).
 He next started working for his doctorate in law. But possibly because of his young age
and limited tutorships in law, the University of Leipzig refused permission, as a result of
which, he immediately shifted to the University of Altdorf.
LIFE AND WORKS
CALCULUS AND CONTROVERSY:
 Like Newton, Leibniz was also a member of the Royal Society in London. During the 1670s
Leibniz developed a theory of calculus. This was very similar to the Newton's theory developed
earlier. However, Leibniz worked on this apparently completely independently. Leibniz
developed a complete theory of differential calculus and integral calculus within a short period
of two months.
WORKS
 Then, in 1674 Leibniz began to develop the conception of calculus. Two years later, in 1676, he
had already developed a system that was coherent and that saw the light of day in 1684.
 1682 and 1692 were very important years for Leibniz, as his documents were published in the
field of mathematics.
CONTRIBUTION TO PHILOSOPHY
 Continuity and sufficient reason
 Two of the most important philosophical principles proposed by Leibniz are the
continuity of nature and sufficient reason.
 On the one hand, the continuity of nature is related to infinitesimal calculus: an infinite
numeric, with infinitely large and infinitely small series, which follow a continuity and
can be read from front to back and vice versa.
 This reinforced in Leibniz the idea that nature follows the same principle and therefore
“there are no jumps in nature”.
  On the other hand, sufficient reason refers to the fact that ‘nothing happens without a
reason’. In this principle it is necessary to take into account the subject/predicate
relationship, i.e. A is A.
MONADS
 This concept is closely related to that of fullness or monads. In other words, ‘monad’
means that which is one, has no parts and is therefore indivisible.
 They are about the existing fundamental things (Douglas Burnham, 2017). Monads are
related to the idea of wholeness, because a full subject is the necessary explanation of
everything it contains.
 Leibniz explains God’s extraordinary actions by establishing Him as the whole concept,
that is, as the original and infinite monad.
METAPHYSICAL OPTIMISM
 On the other hand, Leibniz is well known for his metaphysical optimism. “The best of all
possible worlds” is the phrase that best captures his task of responding to the existence
of evil.
 According to Leibniz, of all the complex possibilities within God’s mind, it is our world
that reflects the best possible combinations and to achieve this, there is a harmonious
relationship between God, the soul, and the body.
IN TOPOLOGY
 Leibniz was the first to use the term analysis situs, which was later used in the 19th
century to refer to what is now known as topology.
 In an informal way, it can be said that the topology is responsible for the properties of
the figures that remain unchanged.
IN RELIGION
 His reference to God becomes clear and habitual in his writings. He conceived of God as
an idea and as a real being, as the only necessary being, who creates the best of all
worlds.
 For Leibniz, since everything has a cause or reason, at the end of the investigation there
is only one cause from which everything is derived. The origin, the point where
everything begins, that “seized cause”, is for Leibniz the same God.

 Leibniz was very critical of Luther and accused him of rejecting philosophy as the enemy
of faith. In addition, he analyzed the role and importance of religion in society and its
distortion by becoming only rites and formulas, which lead to a false conception of God
as being unjust.