1. 1. THE REACTIVE PHILOSOPHY OF LEIBNIZ Sims Tullos
2. 2. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World
3. 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. 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. 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. 6. PASSION BECOMES OBSESSION
7. 7. PASSION BECOMES OBSESSION
8. 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. 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.