论莱布尼茨史学.pdfVIP

On Leibniz’s Historiography Abstract: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is best known as a philosopher and mathematician, and his fame in philosophy and mathematics dimmed his achievements in history in a way. In fact, his plentiful and intense thoughts on history could not be neglected. This essay intends to study his works in philosophy, history and politics from the perspective of historiography, to explore into the historical riches of his thoughts, and to achieve a better understanding and evaluation of this great pioneer of the Enlightenment. The macro-environment at that time exerted an influence on Leibniz’s theory of history. Economically, the German capitalistic imbalance contributed to the diversity of his thoughts and the mingling of both essence and dross. Political disintegration of Germany after 30 years of war and religious conflicts between Protestantism and Catholicism bred his thoughts of reconciliation and eclecticism. Under the influence of the Enlightenment, rationalism was evident in both natural science and humanities, and Leibniz’s theory of history was no exception. His ideas are also rooted in his early education, academic study, classical traditional culture, modern thoughts and interaction with contemporary scholars. Cicero, Herodotus, Tacitus, Plato, Latin and Greek theologians provided methodological principles. Scholars like Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Bayle and others inspired Leibniz greatly, who studied different schools of thoughts, pondered deeply over them,