A FILOSOFIA ANTI-CARTESIANA DE LEIBNIZ

Abstract

This papers aims at showing that Leibniz is an ‘anti-Cartesian’ thinker. In light of the criticism Leibniz has adressed to the philosophy of Descartes, we will argue
that Leibniz cannot be ranked among those philosophers traditionally called
‘Cartesians’. In order to attain this goal, we will firstly demonstrate that Leibniz
undermined the metholodogical and the metaphysical grounds of the philosophy of Descartes, ‘cutting’, so to speak, the ‘roots’ of his philosophical system. Next, we will show that Leibniz also attacked vigorously the discipline that Descartes considered the most important of his philosophy: physics or natural philosophy. All these discussions
will illuminate the fact that Leibniz viewed himself as an ‘anti-Cartesian philosopher,
what refute our belief that he was a follower of Descartes.