In a well-known letter written in 1671, Leibniz draws an argumentative outline which tries to resolve the problem of evil, but that also astonish us with a necessitarian conclusion, according to which the whole chain of the actual events is the best, and therefor is necessary. The present work proposes a detailed reconstruction of the argument and an analysis of its modal meaning. This analysis shows that the necessity assigned by Leibniz to the actual world expresses the modal force that the best acquires in his philosophy, even in 1671, as the principle that rules unavoidably every action of God.
Keywords:
necessitarianism, the best, absolute necessity, principle of sufficient reason, freedom
Author Biography
Maximiliano Escobar Viré, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Escobar Viré, M. (2017). Leibniz’s letter to Magnus Wedderkopf: the necessitarian outline of 1671. Revista De Filosofía, 73, pp. 29–47. Retrieved from https://revistafilosofia.uchile.cl/index.php/RDF/article/view/47645
