Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God
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Kuti Shoham
Abstract
The paper tries to reconstruct a possible polemical dialog between Locke and Leibniz over Of our knowledge of the existence of God, which is the title of Chapter 10, book 4, of the Essay and the New Essays. God’s existence is crucial to Leibniz’s metaphysics as well as to Locke’s philosophical enterprise, however, Locke is a kind of a tabula-rasa empiricist and Leibniz is a kind of a rationalist, therefore any a priori argument will not gain their mutual consent. Furthermore, because the former is a kind of realist whereas the latter holds a kind of an anti-realist ‘no-windows-point-of-view’ of the world, any a posteriori argument will eventually likely fail too.
Abstract
The paper tries to reconstruct a possible polemical dialog between Locke and Leibniz over Of our knowledge of the existence of God, which is the title of Chapter 10, book 4, of the Essay and the New Essays. God’s existence is crucial to Leibniz’s metaphysics as well as to Locke’s philosophical enterprise, however, Locke is a kind of a tabula-rasa empiricist and Leibniz is a kind of a rationalist, therefore any a priori argument will not gain their mutual consent. Furthermore, because the former is a kind of realist whereas the latter holds a kind of an anti-realist ‘no-windows-point-of-view’ of the world, any a posteriori argument will eventually likely fail too.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
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Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
-
Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
