He was the loser who fought with Newton: Who is Leibniz?

He was from a family of Slavic origin. It is known that his ancestors lived in Germany for many years and worked in public services. He was born on 1 July 1646 in Leipzig. His father, Friedrich Leibniz, taught moral philosophy at the University of Leipzig. His mother, Catharina Schmuck, was the daughter of a famous Leipzig lawyer. Leibniz obtained his first knowledge from the distinguished and diverse books of his father, a professor of law. However, he lost his father before he was 7 years old. He learns Greek and Latin at a young age. First, he grew up reading Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, and many other ancient philosophers and kneaded with their thoughts and styles. At the age of fifteen, Leibniz reads the moderns, Bacon, Cardan, Campanella, Kepler, and Galileo with enthusiastic curiosity.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1 July 1646 – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is a prominent figure in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics. He wrote works on philosophy, theology, ethics, politics, law, history and philology. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics and computer science. 

We can divide Leibniz's life into three periods: his education and early work, which dates back to 1672; The period from 1672 to 1676, when he traveled while he was managing the Hannover library, and the period in which he produced his works that placed the Philosopher of Hannover among the most profound and universal figures of all time.

Leibniz completed his higher education at the University of Leipzig and turned to philosophy under the influence of the famous professor Thomasius in the field of philosophy. Then he goes to the University of Jena to follow Erhrard Weigel's math classes. At that time, being influenced by the combination calculus in mathematics, he thought of searching for combination laws in philosophy as well as in mathematics.

According to this, first of all, common ideas and simple ideas should be revealed through analysis and appropriate signs should be assigned to them. Thus, once the alphabet or script of ideas has been formed, all the problems of philosophy will be reduced to a logical calculation similar to the combination calculation in mathematics. Leibniz applies all possible cases of categorical syllogism to this example of philosophical combinations. Leibniz's work on this subject, written at the age of 20, and the expanded version of his doctoral dissertation, Dissertatio de Arte Combinatoria, is notable as it forms the starting point of his future studies: it bears the core of the differential calculus he will invent and his research on the universal characteristic.

Leibniz decides to turn to the field of law and pursues a doctorate in law in Altdorf, near Nuremberg. In his doctoral thesis titled De Casibus Perplexis in Jure published in 1666, he neither accepts abstention nor the right of recourse in legal conflicts. He considers it necessary to seek the solution to such difficulties in legal principles and to seek help from natural law, which is its basis, where positive law cannot say anything.

During this period, Leibniz became a member of the Rosenkreuzer Association in Nuremberg, named after its founder Rosenkreuz, dealing with esoteric sciences (although the same association attracted Descartes, his membership efforts were inconclusive). At that time he read books on alchemy and was not only accepted as a member of the association but also elected secretary. He turns to chemistry experiments with an interest that he will keep alive throughout his life, without turning to any of the superstitious thoughts that prevail in this sect-like association.

Leibniz's most important achievement in Nuremberg was his meeting and inspiration with Baron Boineburg, one of Germany's most distinguished statesmen, in the spring of 1667. A special affinity soon develops between Leibniz and the baron, and Leibniz, who had not been outside of the narrow school circle until then, enters a circle of people from the world of public life and politics through this friendship.

In 1667, at the age of 21, Leibniz settled in Mainz and became an advisor to the Prince of Mainz, Johann Philipp Schönborn. On the other hand, he continues his studies in the fields of science and philosophy with all his might. In 1667, he published a book in the field of law, dedicated to the prince of Mayence, which he had the opportunity to compile while visiting Altdorf in Leipzig a year earlier: It aims to provide precision and clarity.

In 1668 he published a work entitled Confessio Naturae Contra Atheistas. In this book, Leibniz states that all the phenomena of physics are explained in terms of size, shape, and motion, without including any immaterial cause; However, he says that these elements themselves, together with the determinations peculiar to them, cannot be explained by considering only space and corporeal nature. While space contains figures other than realized figures, objects are capable of movements other than real movements. This choice among possible determinations presupposes the existence of a God.

In 1669, he wrote a book titled Specimen Demonstrationum Politicarum Pro Eligendo Rege Polonorum, adhering to a geometric method. Following this, in 1670, he develops a thesis on ways to ensure Germany's internal and external security. In the same year, he was appointed as a consultant in the Mayence High Council.

In 1672, at the age of 26, he went to Paris and presented a report in Latin to King Louis XIV of France. In the report, he advises the King of France, "This is the opportunity to take Egypt." According to Leibniz, the Ottoman Empire was in the disintegration period and the people within it were waiting for the French, whom they saw as the savior power, to come and free them. Leibniz writes that if the expected success from the Egyptian War is won, many advantages such as sovereignty in the seas, the dominance of trade routes, and leadership of the Christian world will be achieved. He can't get an answer from King Louis XIV; He receives a sarcastic reply from one of his ministers, the Marquis de Pomponne. In those years, he was humiliated by the French administration, who did not want to harm the privileged friendship between them and the Ottoman Empire. When Leibniz fails in his attempt, he decides to stay in France to find himself a place in the academic world.

In Paris, he meets the Dutch physicist and mathematician Christian Huygens and becomes friends; He even takes lessons from it.

His contemporary, English scientist Isaac Newton, left Cambridge University in 1665 due to the plague epidemic in London and returned to his native city, Woolsthorpe. When Newton, who made many discoveries, including calculus, in his two years in isolation, started to work, there was not much work to help him, apart from Galileo's mostly qualitative thoughts and Kepler's law of motion. It was in such an environment that, according to his personal notes, in February 1665 he produced the ideas that formed the basis of calculus. He explains integral and differential (derivative) calculus in his books De Analysi Per Aequationes Infinitas of 1669 and De Methods Serierum et Fluxion of 1671, which he wrote after his return to Cambridge. However, fearing criticism that academic circles would make, especially of Robert Hooke, whom he had problems with because of an article he wrote on the light theorem, Newton did not allow his books to be published. Among the few names he cited are his former teacher, the famous mathematician Isaac Barrow, the secretary of the Royal Society, England's science center, Henry Oldenburg, and the printer John Collins, who was engaged in printing Newton's books.

Leibniz, on the other hand, was sent to London in 1673 with the assignment given by the Elector Prince, when the Egyptian plan he wrote to the King of France was not implemented. Elector: title given to princes and bishops in the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire who had the right to participate in the election of emperors.

During the two months he spent there, he established good relations with the English mathematicians, Oldenburg and Collins; He reaches the notes of the English theologian and mathematician Isaac Barrow. Accepted to the Royal Society of the British Academy of Sciences, Leibniz returns to Paris to learn that the Prince of Mainz is dead and unemployed. Leibniz, who disappeared from sight in the next two years and devoted himself to his studies, found calculus in 1675, according to his personal notes.

Later, persuaded by Oldenberg, Newton sent two letters to Leibniz in June and October 1676. Newton, who gives very little detail in these letters, mentions that he found the flux method in a coded way in his second letter and states that he cannot make any further explanations. Leibniz, who goes to London for the second time, shows his notes to John Collins and takes Newton's calculus notes from him. What happened at this point would cause Newton to accuse Leibniz of stealing in the future. But Leibniz had already produced his own methods of calculus before Newton's notes were in his hands.

Leibniz, who moved to Germany after London, publishes his book, Acta Eruditorum, which explains integral and differential calculus at the University of Leipzig in 1684. Leibniz, who wrote a new article two years later, does not mention Newton in either of his publications. Newton, on the other hand, finished writing his famous Principia Mathematica, in which he talked about his own calculus, in 1686, but it was only published in 1693. In this book, Newton includes the letter he sent to John Collins in 1672 containing the methods of calculus. Newton, who became president of the Royal Society after the death of Robert Hooke, whom he regarded as his greatest rival, published his book, Optika, a year later in 1704. Newton explains his method in detail in Optika. After Optika, the scientific world is stunned. The methods and symbols used by Newton and Leibniz for calculus were completely different. But when applied to a problem, both methods gave the same result.

No one would believe that two great scientists discovered calculus at the same time, using different methods. The general view was that one found the calculus, and the other was a thief or second discoverer. The Newtonians and Leibnizians were the first to participate in the debate over who invented calculus. First comes an article from the Bernoulli brothers, a family of mathematicians. Famous mathematician Johann Bernoulli, who named Leibniz's method of joining "integral", not only claimed that Leibniz had found calculus; He also said that Newton stole Leibniz's methods. On Newton's side, there were no great mathematicians. With the influence of John Wallis, who did not like Germany, the general opinion of the Newtonians was that an Englishman must have been the first to discover calculus. In other words, an academic issue had turned into a matter of pride between the two nations.

An article written in 1708 by one of Newton's students, John Keill, would have pulled the strings. Keill firmly states in his article that it was Newton who discovered calculus. Enraged by the article he received two years later, Leibniz sent a letter to the Royal Society demanding an apology. Keill publishes a second article with the permission of Newton, who is president of the Royal Society, but there is no apology in his article. In response, Leibniz writes an anonymous analysis of Newton's work on calculus and claims to have discovered calculus himself.

Today, the general consensus is that Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus independently of each other. But the debate over who made a scientific discovery can sometimes unjustly turn a life into a dark place. The injured party in our story is Leibniz. Although his methods and symbols are used in all the calculus books currently taught, Leibniz, perhaps the most versatile scientist of all time, spent the last years of his life alone, penniless, and discredited.

“Sometimes I have so many thoughts during an hour in bed in the morning that it takes all morning, sometimes all day, and longer to write them down fully.” This sentence that Leibniz said becomes much more meaningful when you read what he did.

Renowned for being a versatile scientist, Leibniz contributed to history, economics, theology, linguistics, biology, geology, law, diplomacy, politics, mathematics, mechanics, and philosophy. He created the prerequisites for the development of computers with the binary number system. Leibniz, in particular, took his studies of binary arithmetic and analysis situs further and pioneered the field we now know as topology with state analysis. He developed the first calculator for the four basic arithmetic operations and the infinitesimal calculus. He wrote a reform for the law. He mediated the dispute between Protestants and Catholics. He advised tsars, kings, and princes on everything from alliance politics to taxation. He was interested in public education, pension insurance, and fire safety. He brought the humanities and natural sciences together in an academy, built windmills and car suspensions, and researched language and world history. Our notation in differential and integral calculus today is based on Leibniz. We owe him the symbols “=” for equality, “x” for multiplication, and terms such as “function”, and “coordinate”. He is considered the forerunner of the brilliant 18th-century mathematicians who came after him.

Leibniz's invention in mathematics opens the doors of technology to us. Leibniz matched the good-evil opposition in philosophy with two numbers: good=1, bad=0. He invents the binary number system with this not-so-complex idea. This system, which we call the "binary system" or "base two number system", is the number system we use most, apart from the ten-base number system. Leibniz, who discovered the base binary number system, aimed to mechanize this system, which contained only the numbers 0 and 1. In his first thought, 0 and 1 were very useful. These two numbers could also mean true-false and open-closed. Leibniz also made drawings of a machine that could convert a decimal number to a binary number. Computers invented hundreds of years later were programmed according to the 0 and 1 logic. In other words, the working logic of all technological devices, including smartphones that we now carry in our pockets, has emerged thanks to Leibniz's dual system. Let's go beyond computer coding: All electrical circuits are based on 0 and 1 logic. Today, on/off logic is used in all electronic products.

In addition, within the scope of binary arithmetic, he constructed a parallelism between one and zero and positivity and negativity, and mentioned that there are such negativities and limits everywhere in creation; Calculating the determinant using cofactors in linear algebra is still referred to as the "Leibniz formula", just as there are points all over the line.

Leibniz, in particular, took his studies of binary arithmetic and analysis situs further and pioneered the field we now know as topology with state analysis.

Besides being a very good mathematician, Leibniz is also a metaphysician who uses the mathematical method in his philosophy. The purpose behind all of Leibniz's work is to present a holistic view of reality that embraces both mathematics and God. He thought that the method he used in calculating infinitesimals if further advanced, would contribute to calculation, imagination, and philosophical thought.

The primary goal of Leibniz's philosophical system is harmony. His philosophy is not only based on the idea that the founding principle of the universe is harmony, but also aims to establish harmony in the thoughts of certain philosophers. This system seems to connect Plato and Democritus, Aristotle and Descartes, scholastics and moderns, theology, morality, and reason. Leibniz really tried to build a system in which some ancient thought traditions and the most innovative ideas of his age were melted into the same pot. It has been Leibniz's primary aim to create a coherent synthesis of different world visions that seem contradictory at first glance.

It was designed as a summary of Leibniz's philosophy, which he unfolded in Theodicee (1710), the only book published while he was alive, and in other writings.

It is not correct to regard Leibniz as a philosopher who philosophized only for knowledge. He is also a thinker who has pondered on problems in practical life. The reason why he spent so much time drawing attention to theology was his desire to settle the problems between Protestants and Catholics. Because Leibniz, unlike most philosophers, did not prefer solitude and was a very good thinker in dialogue with princesses and princes. It is noteworthy that he tried to unite the Catholic and Protestant churches by eliminating these sectarian differences, which is a problem for society. Leibniz believed that it would be possible to gather religious denominations on a common denominator, as he tried to present the views of different philosophers in a synthesis.

In conclusion, we can say that Leibniz declared the freedom of man by drawing attention to the individual's free will to choose good or evil, saying that he is a monad just like God, and therefore a divine power unit. In terms of devotion to God, of course, man should be considered within the framework of the general will. However, although Leibniz's view of the world-world relationship takes on a deist character, this Christian precedent cannot be easily erased, since the theological background is Christianity. Moreover, one of its aims was to defend Christianity.

Leibniz does not marry; they had no relationship or love; The rumor that he has an illegitimate child is not confirmed. But he is not a lone loner like his British rival, Isaac Newton. Leibniz is an inspirational, witty person who can adapt his language and choice of words to suit his audience. “He was very popular with women,” writes librarian Johann Georg von Eckhart, whose long-time secretary, after his death, took over the management of his library in Hanover.

Two women have been very important to Leibniz, but this friendship is at the level of friendship. For many years, they corresponded on an intellectual level with the wife of Elector Ernest Augustus, Sophie Von der Palatinate, and his daughter, Sophie-Charlotte, who later became Queen of Prussia.

Leibniz went to Berlin at an invitation in 1700; By establishing the University of Berlin, he becomes the first director of the university. After 1709, he quit his job in Berlin and lived in Vienna. Although Leibniz was given the rank of baron in 1712; He was buried like a poor man when he died in Hannover on 14 November 1716. His friend, J. G. Von Erckhart, remembers Leibniz's funeral, "this man who represents the honor of his country was buried like a beggar." he writes.

Leibniz wanted to produce an encyclopedia of sciences with the aim of identifying and developing the sciences to glorify the public good and the glory of God. He could not publish his encyclopedia, but for this purpose, he transformed himself into a storehouse of knowledge with his studies in a wide variety of fields from physics, philosophy, history, ethics, law, geology, and theology to the Chinese language, and was favorably accepted by the rulers of Europe as a "walking encyclopedia".