This essay explores the philosophical relationship of Spinoza and Leibniz. It argues that the relationship is best viewed as three-cornered metaphysical transaction beginning with Spinoza, continuing to Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus’s exchanges with Spinoza, and leading to reflections by Leibniz on a Spinoza mediated by these exchanges. It focuses on two topics that exemplify this three-cornered relationship: (1) the relationship between God and things, and the derivation of things from God; and (2) the critical Leibnizian topic of possible worlds.
Leibniz's views on reflection and consciousness are rich and of considerable importance, not only in their own right, but also insofar as they are linked to other Leibnizian views, for example, claims about personal immortality, rationality, awareness of personal identity, and knowledge of innate ideas and necessary truths.
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