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Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

(Hardback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

Contributors:

By (Author) Audrey Borowski
By (author) Audrey Borowski

ISBN:

9780691260747

Publisher:

Princeton University Press

Imprint:

Princeton University Press

Publication Date:

1st March 2025

Country:

United States

Classifications

Readership:

Tertiary Education

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Other Subjects:

Biography: science, technology and medicine
Western philosophy: Enlightenment
History of mathematics
History of science

Dewey:

193

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Hardback

Number of Pages:

320

Dimensions:

Width 156mm, Height 235mm

Description

A sweeping intellectual biography that restores the Enlightenment polymath to the intellectual, scientific, and courtly worlds that shaped his early life and thought

Described by Voltaire as perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (16461716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.

Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his Paris sojourn as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.

An exhilarating work of scholarship, Leibniz in His World demonstrates how this uncommon intellect, torn between his ideals and the necessity to work for absolutist states, struggled to make a name for himself during his formative years.

Author Bio

Audrey Borowski is a research fellow with the Desirable Digitalisation project, a joint initiative of the Universities of Bonn and Cambridge that investigates how to design AI and other digital technologies in responsible ways. She received her PhD from the University of Oxford and is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and Aeon.

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