Abstract

The significance of Leibniz’s work as a physical scientist has long been underestimated or misunderstood. This stems in part from the great success of Newton’s physics on the one hand and the influence of Kant’s account of scientific knowledge on the other, both of which tend to obscure Leibniz’s successes and intentions. It is also due to the unavailability or scholarly neglect of key texts which, if properly assessed, illuminate the work of Leibniz in dynamics. In La dynamique de Leibniz, François Duchesneau attempts to give a synoptic view of Leibniz’s accomplishments in this field, to do justice to neglected writings, and to show that the course of Leibniz’s dynamics offers fresh inspiration for current debates in the philosophy of science and epistemology.