The Early Mathematical Manuscripts of Leibniz (Classic Reprint)

It always puzzled me that we study Voltaire's literary attack on Leibniz's ideas, but we never discuss the ideas Voltaire was responding to. We study forms of mathematics which were designed to argue against Leibniz's more radical mathematical ideas, but we aren't led through the history of how the ideas were developed. I have become convinced that it is not by accident. Leibniz was absurdly ahead of his time in the early 18th century and he is still ahead of our time today. These translations give us a small glimpse of this genius which seems to permeate all important fields of life. These earlier works show Leibniz in a more confident phase-where he believed his ideas could change the entire world in his lifetime. His political theory, philosophy and mathematics (we don't use Newton's esoteric calculus we use Leibniz's) did achieve this, but it took much longer-and sadly much is still not known to today's generation of university students and their teachers. This well-done book provides a peak into Leibniz's revolutionary world of conceptual truth.