Anthony Quinton discusses the 17th18th century philosophers Spinoza and Leibniz with Bryan Magee in an episode of this 1987 series on the Great Philosophers. Both were rationalist philosophers who developed elaborate philosophical systems out of only a few basic principles of reason, but ended up with quite different views. Spinoza was a monist and pantheist. He identified everything with one substance, what he called "God or Nature", and understood everything as a mere aspect or mode of this great unity of existence. Thus, there is ultimately only one true entity or being for Spinoza. He rejected any personal conception of God, as well as free will and purpose within nature, leading many to think of him as an atheist. Leibniz, on the other hand, embraced plurality in his system. He posited an infinite array of indivisible substances that he called "monads" which were immaterial, incorporeal, mindlike points or atoms. These were taken to be fundamental, making Leibniz something of a panpsychist or an idealist. The existence of matter was taken to be derivative, a mere appearance of something ultimately mental or quasimental in nature. Like Spinoza, he was also a determinist who thought everything had to have a complete explanation, leaving no genuine room for objective randomness or chance. And he also agreed with Spinoza that there were innate ideas and knowledge which we possessed prior to any sensory experience of the world. Both thinkers went on to have a huge influence on other philosophers, as well as on many important scientists. (My Description)

The full series:    • The Great Philosophers with Bryan Mag...  

00:00 Introduction
04:44 Rationalist Background
07:37 Spinoza’s Vision
13:35 Spinoza on Mind & Matter
16:32 Freedom & the Emotions
19:54 Was Spinoza Religious?
23:40 Leibniz on the Monad
28:14 Leibniz on Two Kinds of Truths
32:19 Leibniz on MindBody Interaction
35:46 Leibniz on Free Will
38:23 Contributions

#philosophy #spinoza #bryanmagee #leibniz