Leibniz: A Contribution to the Archaeology of Power
Stephen Connelly
Abstract
The concept of power has been a major feature of natural law theories. It evolved over the course of several centuries and was arguably the defining notion in both Hobbes’ and Spinoza’s doctrines of natural right. Yet Leibniz appears to effect a reversal in this millennium-long trajectory and demotes power to a derivative term of his philosophy. What was the rationale behind this radical change? And what does this reversal mean for the philosophy that follows?
Keywords: Leibniz, Power, Space, Law, Philosophy, Aristotle, Aquinas, Natural law, Thomas Hobbes, Jurisprudence
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2021 | Print ISBN-13: 9781474418065 |
| Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: September 2021 | DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474418065.001.0001 |
