Pre-reading
GottfriedWilhelmvonLeibniz (1646-1716) wasoneofthegreatestthinkersofthe17thand18thcenturiesandisknownasthelast “universalgenius”., God, nature, , Leibnizismostnotedforhisoptimism, , inarestrictedsense, thebestpossibleonethatGodcouldhavecreated, , alongwithRené DescartesandBaruchSpinoza, wasoneofthethreegreat17thcenturyadvocatesofrationalism.
, Leibniz’sargumentis: 1) Godisabeinghavingallperfections.2) Aperfectionisasimpleandabsoluteproperty.3) Existenceisaperfection.4) Ifexistenceispartoftheessenceofathing, thenitisanecessarybeing.5) Ifitispossibleforanecessarybeingtoexist, thenanecessarybeingdoesexist.6) Itispossibleforabeingtohaveallperfections.7) Therefore, anecessarybeing (God) doesexist.
FortheCosmologicalArgument, , sinceeachparticulartruthoffactiscontingentuponsomeother(prior) truthoffact, thereasonfortheentireseriesoftruthsmustbelocatedoutsidetheseries, , hisomniscience, omnipotence, andbenevolencefromthetwinassumptionsofthecontingencyoftheworldandthePrincipleofSufficientReason.
PromptsforYourReading
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[1] ItfollowsfromthesupremeperfectionofGodthatinproducingtheuniverseHechosethebestpossibleplan, containingthegreatestvarietytogetherwiththegreatestorder; thebestarrangedsituation, place, andtime; thegreatesteffectproducedbythesimplestmeans; themostpower, themostknowledge, , ...
