Leibniz

At the end of this informative and scholarly work, the author quotes Diderot as saying that 'when one comes to one's senses and compares one's own talents with those of a Leibniz, one is tempted to throw away one's books and go and die peacefully in some forgotten corner.' This book certainly gives a vivid impression of Leibniz's huge range of abilities and accomplishments. There are chapters on logic, language and the encyclopaedia project, natural philosophy and the science of life, mathematical philosophy, the reform of metaphysics, dynamics, the philosophy of space and time, morals and politics. Partly as a result of a visit to England, Leibniz was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of only 27. He then became the founding president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

Natural philosophy embraces a wide range of disciplines and had a much broader meaning than just physics in the 17th century. One can see how Leibniz anticipated self-organisation in his thinking, which also addressed the question of infinite and the mind-body problem. It is interesting to note that his conception of God's action in the world underpins not only his ideas on space and time, but also his theory of justice. He defines this as the charity of the wise and benevolence as the habit of love. Posterity has not been that kind to Leibniz, starting with Voltaire's Candide as well as the fallout from his dispute with Newton. However, he has been immensely influential over a wide field, as this book demonstrates.