莱布尼兹(1646～1716年)

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm

受封为莱布尼兹男爵（Freiherr (baron) von Leibniz）

德国哲学家、数学家。出生於德国莱比锡，教授之子，20岁获得法律学位。《组合的艺术》（1666）书中提出电脑的基本概念。1667年开始替美因兹的选帝侯工作，编纂美因兹法典以及其他重要任务。担任布兰兹维公爵的图书馆管理员及私人参赞（1976～1716）。与牛顿同时发明微积分；虽然这样发明功劳谁属长久争论不断，莱布尼兹的着名早三年出版（1684），而且广泛采用其标记方法。在光学与力学也做出重大的贡献。1700年协助在柏林创立德国科学院，并担任第一任院长。《神正论》（1710）陈述理性的乐观信仰，成为启蒙运动的重要文本。积极调停数个国家的清教徒教会。构想一部庞大的世界史，但是没有完成。现代早期最具原创性的哲学家之一，主要哲学贡献是在逻辑与形上学，在斯宾诺沙与笛卡儿之外开创新局。他支持形上学的多元论（反对笛卡儿的二元论与斯宾诺沙的一元论）。全才与惊人的成就使其成为西方文明最特别的人物。

English version：

1646～1716年

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm

German philosopher and mathematician. Born in Leipzig, the son of a professor, he obtained a doctorate in law at 20. In De arte combinatoria (1666) he set forth the fundamental concepts of the computer. In 1667 he began working for the elector of Mainz, in which position he codified the laws of Mainz, among other important tasks. He served the dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg as librarian and privy concilor (1676-1716). He invented the differential and integral calculus simultaneously with Isaac Newton; though principal credit for the invention has long been disputed, Leibniz's work was published three years earlier (1684) and his notation was universally adopted. He also made important contributions to optics and mechanics. In 1700 he helped found the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and became its first president. His Theodicy (1710) expressed an optimistic faith in reason and became an important text of the Enlightenment. He worked energetically to reconcile the Protestant churches in several countries. He conceived a vast history of the world but never completed it. He was one of the most original philosophers of the early modern period; his chief philosophical contributions were in the fields of logic and metaphysics, in which he provided an alternative to the rationalism of Benedict de Spinoza and Rene Descartes. In metaphysics he espoused pluralism (as opposed to Descartes's dualism and Spinoza's monism). His universal mind and astonishing achievements make him one of the most extraordinary figures of Western civilization.