Character Catalog

The first published article on differential calculus, introducing the dy and dx notations still in use today. It laid the foundations of infinitesimal calculus independently of Newton.

A foundational text of his rationalist philosophy, laying out his conception of God, individual substances, and the pre-established harmony between soul and body.

The only major philosophical work published during his lifetime, attempting to justify divine goodness in the face of the problem of evil. It inspired Voltaire's satire in Candide.

A short treatise of 90 paragraphs outlining his metaphysics of monads — indivisible, immaterial units that make up reality. One of the most widely discussed philosophical works of the 18th century.

A direct response to Locke's Essay, defending rationalism against empiricism. Leibniz argues that certain ideas are innate and that the mind is not a blank slate.

An article presenting the base-2 numeral system, which Leibniz connected to his metaphysics. This work forms a conceptual foundation for modern computing.

Let AX be a straight line, and several curves such as VV, WW, YY, ZZ whose ordinates, perpendicular to AX, are called respectively v, w, y, z… I use dx as the symbol for the difference of x.

God has chosen the most perfect world, that is to say, the one which is at the same time the simplest in hypotheses and the richest in phenomena.

The Monads have no windows through which anything can enter or depart. Accidents cannot detach themselves from substances nor wander about outside of them.

Space is something absolutely uniform, and without the things placed in it, one point of space does not differ absolutely in any respect from another point of space.

We live in the best of all possible worlds. This does not mean that this world is perfect, but that no other arrangement would be better given all the constraints.

Leibniz's birthplace, where he was born in 1646 and completed his university studies. Leipzig was at the time a major commercial and intellectual hub of the Holy Roman Empire.

Leibniz lived here from 1672 to 1676 on a diplomatic mission, and it was during this stay — in contact with leading European scholars gathered in the French capital — that he made his most significant mathematical discoveries.

The city where Leibniz spent most of his adult life, serving as librarian and adviser to the Dukes of Brunswick. He died here in 1716.

Leibniz founded the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences here in 1700 and became its first president, extending his intellectual influence throughout the Prussia of Frederick I.

Leibniz met Spinoza here in 1676 during a memorable visit in which the two philosophers debated metaphysics and theology over the course of several days.