G.W. Leibniz's Monadology

For teaching Leibniz - a philosopher as difficult as he is important - this is as good a work as we are ever likely to get. It gives good guidance throughout.' - Robert E. Butts, University of Western Ontario

G.W. Leibniz''s Monadology , one of the most important pieces of the Leibniz corpus, is at once one of the great classics of modern philosophy and one of its most puzzling productions. Because the essay is written in so condensed and compact a fashion, for almost three centuries it has baffled and beguiled those who have read it for the first time. Nicholas Rescher accompanies the text of the Monadology section-by-section with relevant excerpts from other Leibnizian writings. Using these brief sections as an outline, Rescher collects together some of Leibniz''s widely scattered discussions of the matters at issue. The result serves a dual purpose of providing a commentary on the Monadology by Leibniz himself, while at the same time supplying an exposition of his philosophy using the Monadology as an outline.