In:Controversies in the Contemporary World
Edited by Adriano Fabris and Giovanni Scarafile
[Controversies 15] 2019
► pp. 29–48
Chapter 2Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God
Published online: 7 August 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/cvs.15.03sho
https://doi.org/10.1075/cvs.15.03sho
Abstract
The paper tries to reconstruct a possible polemical dialog between Locke and Leibniz over Of our knowledge of the existence of God, which is the title of Chapter 10, book 4, of the Essay and the New Essays. God’s existence is crucial to Leibniz’s metaphysics as well as to Locke’s philosophical enterprise, however, Locke is a kind of a tabula-rasa empiricist and Leibniz is a kind of a rationalist, therefore any a priori argument will not gain their mutual consent. Furthermore, because the former is a kind of realist whereas the latter holds a kind of an anti-realist ‘no-windows-point-of-view’ of the world, any a posteriori argument will eventually likely fail too.
Keywords: Locke, Leibniz, Controversy, polemics, God’s existence, Dascal
Article outline
- 1.The arguments Of our knowledge of the Existence of God
- 1.1A cosmological (a posteriori) argument for the existence of God
- 1.2The ontological (a priori) argument for the existence of God
- 2.What type of polemic is the Locke-Leibniz virtual debate?
- 2.1Locke-Burnett-Leibniz correspondences
- 2.2Dascal’s typology of polemics
- 3.A note on the rhetorical devices that would have been used by Locke and Leibniz
Abbreviations Notes References
References (7)
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Leibniz’s ‘New System’ and Associated Contemporary Texts (1997). translated and edited by R. S. Woolhouse and Richard Francks. New York: Oxford.
M. Dascal (1998). Types of Polemics and Types of Polemical Moves. In S. Cmejrkova, J. Hoffmannova, O. Mullerova, and J. Svetla. Dialogue Analysis VI (= Proceedings of the 6th Conference, Prague 1996), Vol. 1., Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 15–33.
(2008). Dichotomies and Types of Debate. In F. H. van Eemeren and B. Garssen. (eds.), Controversy and Confrontation: Relating Controversy Analysis with Argumentation Theory, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 27–49.