Home > Catalogue > Philosophica > Theodicy and Reason > Receptions of Leibniz’s Pre-established Harmony
cover
cover

Receptions of Leibniz’s Pre-established Harmony

Wolff and Baumgarten

Gualtiero Lorini    Universidade de Lisboa    

VIEW PDF DOWNLOAD PDF

abstract

In the debate on causality in eighteenth-century Germany, Leibniz’s theory of pre-established harmony plays a central role. This theory presupposes important metaphysical assumptions, such as the monadological structure of the world, and represents a radical alternative to the theory of physical influx. This paper provides an overview of the debate in the period between C. Wolff and A.G. Baumgarten. While the former is skeptical about the monadology and accepts pre-established harmony as a valid hypothesis only concerning the soul-body relationship, the latter endorses the monadological theory and therefore adopts pre-established harmony in its universal value. A further conclusion is that Leibniz’s Essais de Théodicée can be taken as a robust point of reference to highlight the main metaphysical topics at stake in this lively intellectual scene.

Language
EN
ISBN (PRINT)
978-88-6969-084-6
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-083-9

Keywords: MonadologyPre-established HarmonyPhysical Influx

Copyright: © 2016 Gualtiero Lorini. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.