Leibniz considered that scepticism and confusion engendered by the disputes of different sects or schools of metaphysics were obstacles to the progress of knowledge in philosophy. His solution was to adopt an eclectic method with the aim of uncovering the truth hidden beneath the dispute of schools. Leibniz's project was, having in mind the eclectic method, to synthesise a union between old pre-modern philosophy, based on formal and final causes, and new modern philosophy which gave preference to efficient causes. The result of his efforts is summarised in the Monadology. But the question remains: to what degree was Leibniz successful in this enterprise? An objective of this thesis is to investigate whether philosophical tradition can justify or support some of the arguments that are at the basis of Leibniz's system (for example, monads have no window to the exterior world, a phrase that summarises the structure of Monadology). I shall demonstrate how Leibniz reflects the concerns and the positions of his key predecessors. Thus, the aim of the thesis is to explore key antecedents to Leibniz's central doctrines. The thesis argues that Leibniz carried out a logical development of some principles in the eclectic system of Plotinus, which resulted in the structure of Monadology. Whether Leibniz's project was successful or not will depend on how we view those principles.

Leibniz considered that scepticism and confusion engendered by the disputes of different sects or schools of metaphysics were obstacles to the progress of knowledge in philosophy. His solution was to adopt an eclectic method with the aim of uncovering the truth hidden beneath the dispute of schools. Leibniz's project was, having in mind the eclectic method, to synthesise a union between old pre-modern philosophy, based on formal and final causes, and new modern philosophy which gave preference to efficient causes. The result of his efforts is summarised in the Monadology. But the question remains: to what degree was Leibniz successful in this enterprise? An objective of this thesis is to investigate whether philosophical tradition can justify or support some of the arguments that are at the basis of Leibniz's system (for example, monads have no window to the exterior world, a phrase that summarises the structure of Monadology). I shall demonstrate how Leibniz reflects the concerns and the positions of his key predecessors. Thus, the aim of the thesis is to explore key antecedents to Leibniz's central doctrines. The thesis argues that Leibniz carried out a logical development of some principles in the eclectic system of Plotinus, which resulted in the structure of Monadology. Whether Leibniz's project was successful or not will depend on how we view those principles.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1903. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [ii]).

Thesis (PH. D.)--Cornell university, 1903. / With the assistance of ...M.L. Prat, M. Renouvier has summed up his philosophical position in a volume which he has named "La nouvelle monadologie." "Books and articles referred to in this essay": p. [ii].

Walter Benjamin persistently refers to Leibniz’s monad, from his doctoral dissertation (1919), to his last written work, the theses ‘On the Concept of History’ (1940). This dissertation argues that the systematic intent of Benjamin’s early work (1916–1928) can be brought out most clearly by examining Benjamin’s appropriation of Leibnizian metaphysics. The task of this dissertation is to interpret Benjamin’s Leibniz, and to follow the gestures of his text. Benjamin was not interested in presenting a scholarly interpretation of Leibniz’s philosophy. Leibniz’s monad had a unique significance for Benjamin’s own philosophical project. In his early work, this project was to determine a method for the philosophical interpretation of art. The core of my dissertation distills what could be called Benjamin’s ‘aesthetic theory.’ According to Benjamin, works of art do not express their truth-content discursively; rather, they express an idea in a configuration of material detail. I argue that Benjamin draws on a Leibnizian concept of expression. One thing expresses another if it preserves the same logical relationships as that which it represents. According to Benjamin, an idea is the most adequate expression of a work: it preserves the configuration of a work’s material content, and represents this configuration (or “constellation” in Benjamin’s terms) in the nexus of predicates in a ‘complete individual concept,’ or idea. The second aspect of this argument is more applied in its focus: Benjamin’s Habilitation thesis describes an elective affinity between Leibniz’s monadic metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel. Benjamin’s analysis of the Baroque dramas and his interpretation of Leibniz are mutually illuminating. The point that legitimates this comparison is not only historical, as both are products of the seventeenth century, but can also be presented as an idea. Both Leibniz’s metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel are engaged in the secularization of history. My argument proceeds in five chapters. In Chapter One, I trace the historical sources of Benjamin’s interpretation of Leibniz. In Chapters Two, Three, and Four, I discuss Benjamin’s monadic theory of ideas. Finally, in Chapter Five, I address Benjamin’s response to Schmitt’s Political Theology. The Epilogue to this dissertation is a reading of Hamlet, which was, in Benjamin’s view, the Baroque Trauerspiel, par excellence. Hamlet’s world is a self-enclosed totality, or monad.

Walter Benjamin persistently refers to Leibniz’s monad, from his doctoral dissertation (1919), to his last written work, the theses ‘On the Concept of History’ (1940). This dissertation argues that the systematic intent of Benjamin’s early work (1916–1928) can be brought out most clearly by examining Benjamin’s appropriation of Leibnizian metaphysics. The task of this dissertation is to interpret Benjamin’s Leibniz, and to follow the gestures of his text. Benjamin was not interested in presenting a scholarly interpretation of Leibniz’s philosophy. Leibniz’s monad had a unique significance for Benjamin’s own philosophical project. In his early work, this project was to determine a method for the philosophical interpretation of art. The core of my dissertation distills what could be called Benjamin’s ‘aesthetic theory.’ According to Benjamin, works of art do not express their truth-content discursively; rather, they express an idea in a configuration of material detail. I argue that Benjamin draws on a Leibnizian concept of expression. One thing expresses another if it preserves the same logical relationships as that which it represents. According to Benjamin, an idea is the most adequate expression of a work: it preserves the configuration of a work’s material content, and represents this configuration (or “constellation” in Benjamin’s terms) in the nexus of predicates in a ‘complete individual concept,’ or idea. The second aspect of this argument is more applied in its focus: Benjamin’s Habilitation thesis describes an elective affinity between Leibniz’s monadic metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel. Benjamin’s analysis of the Baroque dramas and his interpretation of Leibniz are mutually illuminating. The point that legitimates this comparison is not only historical, as both are products of the seventeenth century, but can also be presented as an idea. Both Leibniz’s metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel are engaged in the secularization of history. My argument proceeds in five chapters. In Chapter One, I trace the historical sources of Benjamin’s interpretation of Leibniz. In Chapters Two, Three, and Four, I discuss Benjamin’s monadic theory of ideas. Finally, in Chapter Five, I address Benjamin’s response to Schmitt’s Political Theology. The Epilogue to this dissertation is a reading of Hamlet, which was, in Benjamin’s view, the Baroque Trauerspiel, par excellence. Hamlet’s world is a self-enclosed totality, or monad.

Thesis--Berlin.

Permission from the author to digitize this work is pending. Please contact the ICS library if you would like to view this work.

Zugl.: Weimar, Bauhausuniv., Diss. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [200]-207)

ROQUE, Joaquim Iarley Brito. Continuidade e descontinuidade: a lógica do fragmento na filosofia de Walter Benjamin. 2013. 114f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2013. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-13T11:48:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013-DIS-JIBROQUE.pdf: 1818293 bytes, checksum: 07c2022fc820c786684e2eb2a3d908a6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-13T12:54:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013-DIS-JIBROQUE.pdf: 1818293 bytes, checksum: 07c2022fc820c786684e2eb2a3d908a6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-13T12:54:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013-DIS-JIBROQUE.pdf: 1818293 bytes, checksum: 07c2022fc820c786684e2eb2a3d908a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / This paper aims to present the philosophical itinerary followed by Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) highlighting how their "gnoseology" aims to overcome the systematic deductive logic and science and achieve fragmentary logic of current reality without cover all elements that form. The Thinker launches in the introduction-epistemological critique of his work Origin of German Baroque Drama and its Cheap concepts like allegory, monadology, assembly, presentation, among others, in a philosophical perspective that in an innovative and original attempts to highlight the need for we raise questions regarding the primacy of fragmentary on systematic within the methods and philosophical theories of our time. Emphasizing the particularities of such epistemological proposal, and how it applies in all of his philosophy present how his criticism is directed to the positivism, historicism, and especially the philosophical conceptions derived from the absolute idealism. Against such a perspective thinker applies the logic of the fragment, the discontinuity in the construction of his Theses on the Philosophy of History is emerging as highlighting the need to establish a philosophy contrary to procedure and logical-deductive mathematical for these are held in a summarized and didactic, leaving aside the problem of singular expression. Finally, the present work aims to demonstrate how the philosophical method Benjamin is based on a presentation called contemplative truth from a discontinuous and intentional setting in which phenomena are saved without losing their distinctiveness. / O presente trabalho se propõe a apresentar o itinerário filosófico seguido por Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) destacando o quanto sua “gnoseologia” pretende superar a lógica dedutiva e sistemática das ciências e alcançar a lógica fragmentária da realidade atual sem encobrir todos os elementos que a constituem. O pensador lança na introdução crítica-epistemológica de sua obra Origem do Drama Barroco Alemão e em sua Passagens conceitos como os de alegoria, monadologia, montagem, apresentação, dentre outros, em uma perspectiva filosófica que de forma inovadora e original tenta ressaltar a necessidade de levantarmos questões referentes ao primado do fragmentário sobre o sistemático no âmbito dos métodos e das teorias filosóficas de nosso tempo. Ressaltando as particularidades de tal proposta epistemológica, e como esta se aplica no todo de sua filosofia apresentaremos o quanto sua crítica se direciona para o positivismo, o historicismo, e principalmente às concepções filosóficas oriundas do idealismo absoluto. Contra tal perspectiva o pensador aplica a lógica do fragmento, da descontinuidade, na construção de suas Teses sobre o conceito de história destacando o quanto é emergente a necessidade de se fundar uma filosofia contrária ao procedimento lógico-dedutivo e matemático por estes se realizarem de forma resumida e didática, deixando de lado o problema da expressão do singular. Por fim, o presente trabalho pretende demonstrar o quanto o método filosófico de Benjamin se baseia em uma apresentação contemplativa da verdade posta a partir de uma configuração descontínua e intencional na qual os fenômenos são salvos sem perderem sua particularidade.