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Leibniz on the Grounds of the Principle of Sufficient Reason

  • Owen Pikkert EMAIL logo

Abstract

I examine several alleged grounds of the principle of sufficient reason in Leibniz’s philosophy. These include the nature of a requisite and a sufficient condition, the nature of truth, and the nature of harmony. I argue that Leibniz does not ground the PSR in any of these ways. Instead, he is committed to a value-based grounds of the PSR: God creates the best possible world, and the fact that the PSR obtains in this world contributes to it being the best. I conclude by considering some objections to this way of grounding the PSR.

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Published Online: 2022-09-10
Published in Print: 2022-09-07

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