back to ideas for this text


Single Idea 19360

[from 'New Essays on Human Understanding' by Gottfried Leibniz, in 2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 1. Laws of Thought ]

Full Idea

General principles enter into our thoughts, serving as their inner core and their mortar. Even if we give no thought to them, they are necessary for thought, as muscles and tendons are for walking.

Gist of Idea

General principles, even if unconscious, are indispensable for thinking

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 1.01.20)

Book Reference

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'New Essays on Human Understanding', ed/tr. Remnant/Bennett [CUP 1996], p.84


A Reaction

Famously, Leibniz identified sufficient reason and non-contradiction as the two foundational principles. Modern logicians seem less keen on this idea, but then they have less interest in how we actually think.