Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Leibniz

Abstract

The transition from medieval to modern philosophy is characterized by the emancipation of reason from theological oversight and the application of mathematical rigor to metaphysical inquiry. This development centers on Continental Rationalism, beginning with the establishment of systematic doubt and the subjective certainty of the self as a foundational principle. This framework yields a fundamental dualism between spiritual thinking substances and geometrically extended matter, necessitating new theories to account for psycho-physical interaction. Subsequent systems refined these concepts through divergent paths: one approach resolved dualism into a rigorous monistic pantheism, identifying God with a single infinite substance and viewing all finite beings as necessary modes of its attributes. Another maintained a pluralistic ontology composed of immaterial, self-contained “monads”—active centers of force coordinated by a divinely pre-established harmony. Intermediate developments addressed the limitations of mechanical causality through occasionalism, which locates all efficient power in the divine, and critiqued the sufficiency of pure reason by asserting the necessity of intuitive knowledge in religious and existential contexts. These systems collectively formalized a mechanical worldview while attempting to integrate the concepts of substance, causality, and divine perfection into a coherent, deductive logical structure. – AI-generated abstract.