Gottfried Leibniz in his world: the making of a Savant (1672-1679)

This thesis examines Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s early career in its intellectual and social contexts, arguing that his thought must be understood not as the production of an isolated genius but as fundamentally conditioned by the contingencies of his existence as an aspiring scientist and courtier in Mainz (1670-72), Paris (1672-76, with a trip to London in 1673), and Hanover (1676-79). The analysis consists primarily in examining his and his peers’ correspondence during those years and shedding light on how Leibniz sought to position himself at the intersection of the political and scientific realms in France and Germany, but also how his various political and scientific projects were perceived by his contemporaries. The thesis is divided into two parts focusing on his time in Paris and Hanover respectively. Leibniz’s five year sojourn in Paris, in particular, was a revelatory and formative experience for him. This part examines how he took advantage of the city’s cultural life, moving in multiple intellectual and scientific circles, partaking in the intellectual debates of the time, gathering information, inventing the calculus and his calculating machine, advocating his scientific agenda at court, and promoting both scientific societies and various technological and commercial ventures in the hope—disappointed—of securing a position at the Académie des Sciences. Leibniz’s Parisian period acted as a catalyst through helping spawn a period of innovation upon his move to Hanover in 1677 in the service of Duke Johann Friedrich. The second part of the thesis focuses on how he sought to establish himself as the duke’s commercial and technological advisor while pursuing his activities as a ‘projector’, seeking to implement his various technological, legal, and theological proposals. From Hanover also he used his extensive epistolary network as an instrument for acquiring and disseminating information.