Leibniz-Clarke correspondence
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The Leibniz-Clarke correspondence was a scientific, theological and philosophical debate conducted by epistolary means, between the German thinker Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, an English supporter of Isaac Newton between 1715 and 1716.
Unlike Newton, Leibniz never wrote a magnum opus, so his correspondence is of considerable importance in establishing his views.
Although a variety of subjects is touched on in the letters, the main interest for modern readers is in the dispute between the absolute theory of space favoured by Newton and Clarke, and the Leibniz's relational approach.
Their correspondence was at length cut short by the death of Leibniz in November 1716.
A collection of the papers which passed between them was published in 1717 (cf. GV Leroy, Die philos. Probleme in dem Briefwechsel Leibniz und Clarke, Giessen, 1893).
[edit] See also
- Samuel Clarke
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Isaac Newton
- Philosophy of space and time
- Principle of sufficient reason
