Why God Thinks what He is Thinking? An Argument against Samuel Newlands’ Brute–Fact–Theory of Divine Ideas in Leibniz’s Metaphysics

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 13 (3) (2021)
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Abstract

According to the most prominent principle of early modern rationalists, the Principle of Sufficient Reason [PSR], there are no brute facts, hence, there are no facts without any explanation. Contrary to the PSR, some philosophers have argued that divine ideas are brute facts within Leibniz’s metaphysics. In this paper, I argue against brute-fact-theories of divine ideas, especially represented by Samuel Newlands in Leibniz and the Ground of Possibility, and elaborate an alternative Leibnizian theory of divine ideas.

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Jan Levin Propach
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München

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References found in this work

Metaphysical Rationalism.Shamik Dasgupta - 2016 - Noûs 50 (2):379-418.
Leibniz and the Ground of Possibility.Samuel Newlands - 2013 - Philosophical Review 122 (2):155-187.
The Mind of God and the Works of Man.Edward Craig - 1987 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.

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