Leibnitz, GOTTFRIED

WILHELM, 1646-1716. German philosopher, mathematician, and diplomatist; librarian and counselor at Hanover from 1676; rival of Newton in discovering the theory of fluxions; peacemaker between Catholics and Protestants; constructor of a philosophy which opposed the sensationalism of Locke and the pantheism of Spinoza. Instead of one universal substance he a erted many, called monads, in various degrees of perfection: this was atomism minus materialism, and monism without pantheism. On this he founded IMG:content-1055.png:[graphic][merged small] freedom of will, as opposed to Spinoza's fatalism. Pro to goe a , 1680, became the foundation of the later Plutonic theory. In it he clearly enunciated the conception of a primitive molten world gradually undergoing refrigeration; but while he attributed a direct igneous origin to the naked, hard rocks of the earth, he recognized the action of water in the formation of stony and earthy strata. He contributed largely to Acta Eruditorum , 1682-92. and discovered, later than Newton but independently, the Differential and Integral Calculus. Théodicée , 1710; Mon a do logie , 1714; L'Entendement Humain , 1765; System a Theolog i cum , 1819. His works were partially collected 1768 and later.