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Full Idea
Knowledge is either obscure or clear; clear ideas are either indistinct or distinct; distinct ideas are either adequate or inadequate, symbolic or intuitive; perfect knowledge is that which is both adequate and intuitive.
Gist of Idea
Knowledge needs clarity, distinctness, and adequacy, and it should be intuitive
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Reflections on Knowledge, Truth and Ideas [1684], p.283)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Leibniz Selections', ed/tr. Wiener,Philip P. [Scribners 1951], p.283
A Reaction
This is Leibniz's expansion of Descartes's idea that knowledge rests on 'clear and distinct conceptions'. The ultimate target seems to be close to an Aristotelian 'real definition', which is comprehensive and precise. Does 'intuitive' mean coherent?
| 19424 | Knowledge needs clarity, distinctness, and adequacy, and it should be intuitive [Leibniz] |
| 19425 | In the schools the Four Causes are just lumped together in a very obscure way [Leibniz] |
| 19426 | 'Nominal' definitions just list distinguishing characteristics [Leibniz] |
| 19427 | True ideas represent what is possible; false ideas represent contradictions [Leibniz] |