Leibniz's final system

"Leibniz's Final System explores a complicated topic, widely discussed in contemporary commentaries on Leibniz, namely the question of whether Leibniz was a metaphysical Idealist, Realist, or whether he tried to reconcile both trends in his mature philosophy. In recent years, the debate has centered on whether it is possible to maintain compatibility between the two." "Taking his cue from Leibniz's claim that "sectarianism" is a mistake, Hartz portrays Leibniz as a "theory-pluralist" for whom philosophical accounts are theories rather than absolute truths. While inconsistency between truths is problematic, inconsistency between theories is not. Hartz is thus free to examine separately and in great detail both the familiar monads-only Idealist theory and the largely unexplored Realist theory of matter and animals. He shows that Idealist and Realist passages are about equal in number and are typically found in the same texts throughout the mature period." "As the first major work on Realism in Leibniz's metaphysics, this key text will interest international Leibniz scholars, as well as students at the graduate level."--BOOK JACKET.