TY - CHAP
T1 - G. W. Leibniz
T2 - Moderation and Censorship
AU - Laerke, Mogens
PY - 2009/6/15
Y1 - 2009/6/15
N2 - According to André Robinet, “the liberty of opinion, the liberty of conscience, in a word, the liberty to philosophize, mark the totality of Leibniz’s works and actions.”2 There are passages in Leibniz’s texts which could seem to speak quite clearly in favor of Robinet’s interpretation. For example, he wrote the following in two letters to Bartholomew des Bosses from 1707 concerning the persecutions of Jansenists in France: “Even if I do not approve of the main views of an author, I should like to have conceded to the learned [ . . . ] the freedom of philosophizing [philosophandi libertatem], which inspires competition and arouses intellects” and “it is extremely harmful that freedom of thinking [sentiendi libertatem] be restrained from day to day within unnecessary limits.”3 In certain particular cases, Leibniz was strongly opposed to censorship, for instance in= relation to the condemnation of Copernicus and Galileo. Thus, during his travels to Italy in the late 1690s, the German philosopher condemned the actions taken by the Roman Catholic Church against the astronomers...
AB - According to André Robinet, “the liberty of opinion, the liberty of conscience, in a word, the liberty to philosophize, mark the totality of Leibniz’s works and actions.”2 There are passages in Leibniz’s texts which could seem to speak quite clearly in favor of Robinet’s interpretation. For example, he wrote the following in two letters to Bartholomew des Bosses from 1707 concerning the persecutions of Jansenists in France: “Even if I do not approve of the main views of an author, I should like to have conceded to the learned [ . . . ] the freedom of philosophizing [philosophandi libertatem], which inspires competition and arouses intellects” and “it is extremely harmful that freedom of thinking [sentiendi libertatem] be restrained from day to day within unnecessary limits.”3 In certain particular cases, Leibniz was strongly opposed to censorship, for instance in= relation to the condemnation of Copernicus and Galileo. Thus, during his travels to Italy in the late 1690s, the German philosopher condemned the actions taken by the Roman Catholic Church against the astronomers...
U2 - 10.1163/ej.9789004175587.i-206.39
DO - 10.1163/ej.9789004175587.i-206.39
M3 - Chapter
SN - 900417558X
SN - 978-90-04-17558-7
T3 - Brill's Studies in Intellectual History
SP - 155
EP - 178
BT - The Use of Censorship in the Enlightenment
A2 - Laerke, Mogens
PB - E.J. Brill
CY - Leiden, Germany
ER -