Leibniz's Philosophical System

Leibniz's philosophical system relied on the foundational principles of noncontradiction and sufficient reason. In his Discourse on Metaphysics (1686), Leibniz argued that the perfection of God was demonstrable through the principle of noncontradiction and that His perfection meant that God's creations must also be perfect. For various reasons, of course, the universe may appear to be far less than perfect but Leibniz invoked the principle of sufficient reason, which he held was basic to all reasoning, to demonstrate the perfection of creation. This principle states that there is no true fact or proposition without a sufficient reason for its being as it is and not otherwise. There is, in short, a reason for everything even though, in most cases, these reasons are not within the scope of human comprehension. If creation is perfect it is necessary to account for the existence of evil. Leibniz explained this partly through the principle of sufficient reason, and partly through the distinction between the activities of God and the activities of created things (an infinity of substances) that was based on the predicate-in-subject principle; a refinement of the principle of sufficient reason which held that a concept expressed in the predicate term of any true proposition is contained as well in the concept expressed by its subject term and this provides the grounds for the truth of the proposition. Leibniz defined substance on the basis of this principle and posited that

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they can, therefore, be unlimited as is the case with the power and knowledge of God. In looking at creation, however, there are those who argue that "God might have made things better than he has" (581). Being perfect, however, God cannot act with less perfection than he has and, therefore, everything he does must be perfect. The reason such objections are raised is "based upon the too slight acquaintance which we have with the general harmony of the universe and with the reasons for God's conduct" (582). Leibniz goes on to establish, via the principle of sufficient reason, that nothing God does lacks order and that nothing can talk place within creation that does not conform to that order. If they transgress the "subordinate regulations which we call the nature of things" (i.e., if they are miracles) they merely reflect God's "particular" intentions. Everything in creation is part of his general intention, and any departure from the subordinate regulations is the result of a particular intention--of which God is perfectly capable since creation is the direct result of his general intentions. This raises the problem of evil, and Leibniz argues that while God desires every result of his particular intentions, not every

Category: Philosophy - L