Locke and Leibniz

Answer ONE of the following sets of questions: 1. Leibniz claims in the preface to the New Essays that Locke will perhaps "not entirely disagree with my opinion [regarding innate knowledge]" (294). Given the Locke adamantly argues against innate knowledge, carefully explain how Leibniz could make this claim. Given your reading of Locke, would he agree with Leibniz's assessment? Philosophically speaking, what do you take to be the significance of this debate to be? Be sure to work through the details. You could, but need not, address a concept that each of them gives an account of. 2. Leibniz claims that some people think that freedom involves "absolute indifference," which he claims to be "chimerical " Carefully explain how Leibniz's account of freedom could be construed as aiding readers to come to a coherent account of freedom (not chimerical). Be sure to include a discussion of the principle of sufficient reason. What is the best objection to Leibniz's account of human freedom and how might Leibniz reply to the objection? Do you find such a response persuasive? Explain. 3. First, explain to what degree, and what it means to say, that space and time depend on the existence of substances Second, given Leibniz's remarks in 5.47 (page 337-339) is it the case that space and time do not exist for non-apperceiving monads? (References to apperception 208 ,214-15, 294-96, among others) Explain 4. Leibniz claims in multiple places that each substance express the whole universe, e.g., page 220-221. Carefully explain what it means to say that a substance "expresses the whole universe" and then work out how this expression relates to both efficient and final causality.. Develop your response by making decisions about which passages, ideas, and concepts you will focus on, and by formulating a claim or claims that you will support in your paper. You do not, and cannot, say everything there is to say, nor should you try to summarize everything. Rather, you want to structure your essay according to a specific idea or two that you want to elucidate.        

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