Spinoza and Leibniz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spinoza and Leibniz - Essay Example (Montag, 2002) Further on, his meditations on the 'nature of Divine' were connected with such intellectual and philosophical movements of the time as Pantheism, Determinism, neutral monism, intellectual and religious freedom, separation of church and state, and so on. (Nadler, 1999) Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646 ---1716) was born in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire, and died in Hannover, Electorate of Hannover. Great German philosopher had wider recognition not only because of his metaphysical works (problems of 'theodicy' as well as of 'universal language'), but also because of his impact in mathematics and history of logic (Woolhouse and Francks, 1998). Briefly speaking, he invented lots of things: 'infinitesimal calculus;' 'monadic' concept; thesis that our Earth was the 'best of all possible worlds;' then, there were also 'Leibniz harmonic triangle;' 'Leibniz formula for determinants;' 'Leibniz integral rule;' principle of sufficient reason; 'diagrammatic re asoning;' notation for differentiation; kinetic energy; proof of Fremat's little theorem; 'law of continuity;' 'transcendental law of homogeneity;' 'calculus ratiocinator;' binary number system, etcetera (Jolley, 1995). The Role of God in the Ideas of Spinoza and Leibniz God exists in both systems of Spinoza and Leibniz. ... e determined by the nature of God.' Giving an answer on a complicated question about 'free choices' and 'actions determinated,' it is possible to find out a right correlation between 'free choices' of human beings and 'Divine determination,' according to Spinoza and Leibniz. Spinoza on God: 'Ethics' There are several names for this 'transcendental agent' in Spinoza's fundamental writing: God, Nature, and Universe. 'Reality is perfection,' (Nadler, 1999) therefore, 'if circumstances are seen as unfortunate it is only because of our inadequate conception of reality.' (Nadler, 2006) Moreover, there is a 'universal truth,' but abilities of our intellect are always so miserable and limited, that we are able to see only a fragment of chain of cause and effect; that is why 'emotion is formed from inadequate understanding.' (Nadler, 1999) Essentially, only 'intuitive knowledge is eternal,' and 'the world as it exists looks imperfect only because of our limited perception.' (Nadler, 2006) Con cerning a question on 'freedom of human will' and 'eternal determination by a transcendental subject,' it should be stated that for Spinoza such separation does not make sense at all. He is concerned with a limited abilities of human intellectus, and his idea is that when this intellectus in a perfect condition being developed sufficiently, such person knows 'eternal truth' or 'universal principle' of how things are, or used to be, or how they will be. The question about 'freedom of will' is about a level of our hesitation about such truth inside ourselves, an issue about our state of mind, or cognitive abilities of our intellect, more developed or totally undeveloped. When it is undeveloped, we are thinking that we are totally free from restrictions, but when we have our abilities and