A brief look at Leibniz philosophy as a reactive attempt to dispute the beliefs of the heretic, Spinoza.

1. THE REACTIVE
PHILOSOPHY OF LEIBNIZ
Sims Tullos

2. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate
of God in the Modern World

3. BENEDICT DE SPINOZA
 Apostate Jew
 Born and lived in Holland
 Reclusive study with little to no
indulgence
 Careful to whom he spoke philosophy

4. GOTTFRIED WILHELM
LEIBNIZ
 Born in Germany
 Orthodox Lutheran
 Excessive and expensive lifestyle with
many indulgences
 Boasted about his knowledge to
anyone that would here

5. SPINOZA VS. LEIBNIZ
 “One was the ultimate insider, the other a double exile; one
was an orthodox Lutheran from conservative Germany, the
other an apostate Jew from licentious Holland. Above all, one
was sworn to uphold the very same theocratic order that the
other sought to destroy” (Stewart 111)

6. PASSION BECOMES
OBSESSION

7. PASSION BECOMES
OBSESSION

8. LEIBNIZ OBSESSION
 Leibniz spent his mature philosophical career trying to dispute the
metaphysics of Spinoza only to end up so closely identified with the
man he once claimed would set the four corners of the Earth on fire
 As one would say that Spinoza began with God and ended with
God, it would also be appropriate to say that Leibniz started with
Spinoza and ended with Spinoza

9. WORKS CITED
 Works Cited
 Stewart, Matthew. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and
the Fate of God in the Modern World. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, 2006. Print.
 Spinoza, Benedict de. A Spinoza Reader: The Ethics and Other Works.
Ed. and Trans. Edwin Curley. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University
Press, 1994. Print.