Just and Sinner Podcast Leibniz and the Birth of German Rationalism (Makers of the Modern World)
Oct 16, 2025
Delve into the intriguing life of Leibniz and how his early education shaped his remarkable intellect. Discover the concept of monads—self-contained units that mirror the universe. Unpack his complex relationships with thinkers like Descartes and Spinoza. Explore Leibniz's views on God and the nature of substance, along with his belief in pre-established harmony. Learn why he claimed we live in the 'best of all possible worlds' and how his ideas laid the groundwork for rationalism in German philosophy.
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From Scholastic Realism To Nominalist Particulars
- Leibniz pioneered German rationalism by moving from scholastic realism to a nominalist focus on particulars.
- He introduced the doctrine of monads as the fundamental, indivisible units of reality.
Childhood Of A Prodigy
- Leibniz was born into an academic Lutheran household in Leipzig and lost his father at six.
- He became a prodigy, reading his father's library and learning Latin by age twelve.
Paris Encounters That Shifted His Method
- Paris introduced Leibniz to Descartes and Pascal, shaping his rationalist method and mechanistic puzzles.
- Descartes' mechanistic nature prompted Leibniz to rethink final causality and human freedom.
