« Leibniz and Descartes », Oxford Handbook to Descartes and Cartesian Philosophy, Delphine Antoine-Mahut, Steven Nadler and Tad Schmaltz (eds.) (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press), 2019, p.721-737
This chapter examines Leibniz’s complex relation to Descartes. These relations are deeply influenced by the evolution of the intellectual context from the early 1670’s to the early 18th century. Beyond Leibniz’s overall appraisal of Descartes’s philosophy, three areas stand out in which the discussion and criticism of Descartes’s ideas played a decisive role in the development Leibniz’s thought: epistemology, natural philosophy and philosophy of mind. There are three central issues at stake between the two philosophers: the nature and role of evidence, the use of final causes and the Law of continuity.