Leibniz is known to the wide public and to many scholars mainly as
a logician and mathematician, and as the creator of a fascinating
but strange metaphysical system. In these, as well as in other
fields, his remarkable innovations were achieved by painstaking
efforts to establish a fruitful critical dialogue with the leading
contemporary thinkers. He was no less important, however, in his
practical endeavor to bring opponents to negotiate reasonable
solutions to key political and religious conflicts of his time.
Both his theoretical and practical activities were informed by a
philosophical mind that sought in all circumstances the most
general underlying principles; by a juridical mind that sought to
bring order and structure to human interaction, without sacrificing
the necessary flexibility; by an argumentative mind that knows that
persuading is often more important than proving; by a scientific
mind eager to organize past and present knowledge so as not to miss
any bit of information capable of pointing the way to new
discoveries; by a theologian mind that refuses to admit that
religious conflicts between true believers are irresolvable; and by
an ethical and political mind whose major concern is to direct all
our intellectual work towards improving the well-being of
humankind.
All these perspectives (and more) are united in what this book
identifies as his Art of Controversies, which might also be called
an Art of Dialectical Cooperation. For it is based on the idea that
knowledge production, acquisition, and evolution is not a one-man
affair, but the result of the cooperation of many, coming from
different perspectives; whence it follows that not only tolerance
vis-A -visthe other, but also valuing the othera (TM)s contribution
and integrating it a" whether it stems from another age, continent,
culture, discipline, religion, or individual a" is indispensable.
This dialectical Leibniz that emerges from the selected texts here
translated, commented, and interpreted in the light of their
context, isna (TM)t for sure the familiar one. Yet, perhaps
surprisingly, it is capable of shedding light on that old,
familiar, yet incomplete image of Leibniz, and of adding thus a
further reason for cherishing and cultivating the heritage of a
truly great man.
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