Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz was born on the July 1, 1646 in Leipzig, Germany and died on November 14, 1716 in Hanover, Germany. He was the son of Friedrich Leibnitz, a professor of moral philosophy at Leipzig. Friedrich Leibnitz was evidently a competent though not original scholar, who devoted his time to his offices and to his family as a pious, Christian father. His mother was Catharina Schmuck, the daughter of a lawyer and Friedrich’s third wife. Friedrich died when Leibnitz was only six years old and he was brought up by his mother. Certainly Leibnitz learned his moral and religious values from her, which would play an important role in his life and philosophy. At the age of seven, Leibnitz entered the Nicolai School in Leipzig. Although he was taught Latin at school, Leibnitz had taught himself far more advanced Latin and some Greek by the age of 12. He was motivated to read his father's books. As he progressed through school he, was taught Aristotle's logic and theory of categorizing knowledge. Leibnitz was clearly not satisfied with Aristotle's system and began to develop his own ideas on how to improve on it. Later in life Leibnitz recalled that at this time he was trying to find orderings on logical truths, which, although he did not know it at the time, were the ideas behind rigorous mathematical proofs. As well as his schoolwork, Leibnitz studied his father's books. In particular he read metaphysics books and theology books from both Catholic and Protestant writers. In 1661, at the age of fourteen, Leibnitz entered the University of Leipzig. It may sound today as if this were a truly exceptionally early age for anyone to enter university, but it is fair to say that by the standards of the time he was quite young but there would be others of a similar age. He studied philosophy, which was well taught at the University of Leipzig, and mathematics, which was very poorly taught. Among the other topics, which were included...
