Leibnitz

lip nits, Gottfried Wilhelm von (1646-1716), a German philosopher and mathematician. He was a native of Leipsic. His father was a professor of law in the university. Young Leibnitz was a precocious lad. He could read Latin fluently at twelve. He studied at the University of Leipsic and at Jena. Being refused a degree at Leipsic on account of his youth, he went to Altdorf where he took his degree as doctor of law. Unlike most men who have become celebrated for learning, he was not a university professor. He entered the services of the Elector of Mainz, and later had charge of the electoral library at Hanover. He was afforded leisure for study and writing. He wrote many political pamphlets, visited the principal cities of Europe, formed the acquaintance of scholars, and was honored with membership in the leading learned societies. He divides honors with Newton as the discoverer of the differential calculus. Both seem to have worked out the system independently. He was one of the most noted philosophers of the day. The student of the subject will come one day upon Leibnitz's theories of Sufficient Reason, the Monad, and Preestablished Harmony, too advanced for discussion here. As an instance of the influence of an idea working long after a man is dead, it may be stated that Napoleon was influenced to invade Egypt by a letter of Leibnitz a century old. Leibnitz is regarded as one of the world's great thinkers. See Kant; Herbart