display all the ideas for this combination of texts
2 ideas
| 13009 | A reason is a known truth which leads to assent to some further truth [Leibniz] |
| Full Idea: A reason is a known truth whose connection with some less well-known truth leads us to give our assent to the latter. | |
| From: Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 4.17) | |
| A reaction: This is plainly false, because you can have a reason for believing something, but still not give your assent to it, presumably because of counter-reasons. And a false belief could also be a reason, even to believe a truth. Tut tut. |
| 12963 | Opposing reason is opposing truth, since reason is a chain of truths [Leibniz] |
| Full Idea: To speak against reason is to speak against truth, for reason is a chain of truths. | |
| From: Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 2.21) | |
| A reaction: Truth has a talismanic quality here (which it didn't always have). This is a lovely slogan for defenders of the Enlightenment. It forces modern critics of the Enlightenment (Adorno etc) to launch an attack on truth, which is a doomed line. |