Leibniz: Determinist, Theist, Idealist - Softcover

A finely detailed and elaborately worked-out apology for the German metaphysician ... This is an austere and often daunting work which makes few concessions to those who are not already closely interested in Leibniz's philosophy. Its range is impressive ... On any showing, it must be counted a formidable scholarly achievement. (Times Literary Supplement)

Leibniz could not have hoped for a more thoughtful and penetrating, more careful, sensitive, and positive, examination of his ideas than this ... Given the evident "love of truth" exhibited in Adam's book, he surely would have welcomed it. (Times Higher Education Supplement)

Adams offers a detailed analysis of an impressive range of texts ... This is an important contribution to Leibniz studies. Not only does Adams display a most impressive mastery both of Leibniz's writings and of those of other philosophers of his era, but his interpretations are ingenious and his arguments subtle and original. I am sure that this is a book that Leibniz scholars will need to consult, and that it will stimulate much discussion ... it is an outstanding example of its kind. (G.H.R. Parkinson, University of Reading, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Vol. 4/No. 2, 1996)

A thorough and well-researched book that deserves to be placed in every library, next to Russell's classic Leibniz text. (Choice)

This is a paperback reprint of a cloth edition published in 1994. Adams presents an in-depth interpretation of three important parts of Leibniz's metaphysics, thoroughly grounded in the texts as well as in philosophical analysis and critique. The three areas discussed are the metaphysical part of Leibniz's philosophy of logic, his essentially theological treatment of the central issues of ontology, and his theory of substance. Adams' work helps make sense of one of the great classic systems of modern philosophy.