Book contents
- A Philosophical History of the Concept
- A Philosophical History of the Concept
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Concepts in Classical Greece
- 2 Concepts in Epicurean and Stoic Philosophy
- 3 Concepts in Late Antiquity
- 4 Concepts in Early Chinese Philosophy
- 5 Buddhist Theory of Concepts
- 6 Concepts in Brahmanical Philosophy in Classical India
- 7 Concepts in Islamic Philosophy
- 8 Concepts in the Latin Medieval Tradition
- 9 Concepts and Ideas in Suárez, Descartes and Beyond
- 10 Concepts in British Empiricism
- 11 The Leibnizean Alternative
- 12 Kant on the Epigenesis of (Empirical) Concepts
- 13 The Concept in German Idealism
- 14 Concept, Value and World
- 15 Concepts in the School of Brentano, Husserl and Early Phenomenology
- 16 Two Concepts of Concept in Early Analytic Philosophy
- 17 Concepts in Pragmatism
- 18 Concepts, Meaning and Use
- 19 Concepts in Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer
- 20 Poststructuralist Approaches to the Concept
- 21 Carnap, Quine, Putnam and Burge on Concepts
- 22 Concepts and Conceptual Engineering
- Index
- References
11 - The Leibnizean Alternative
Logical-Conceptual versus Presentational Models
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2026
Book contents
- A Philosophical History of the Concept
- A Philosophical History of the Concept
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Concepts in Classical Greece
- 2 Concepts in Epicurean and Stoic Philosophy
- 3 Concepts in Late Antiquity
- 4 Concepts in Early Chinese Philosophy
- 5 Buddhist Theory of Concepts
- 6 Concepts in Brahmanical Philosophy in Classical India
- 7 Concepts in Islamic Philosophy
- 8 Concepts in the Latin Medieval Tradition
- 9 Concepts and Ideas in Suárez, Descartes and Beyond
- 10 Concepts in British Empiricism
- 11 The Leibnizean Alternative
- 12 Kant on the Epigenesis of (Empirical) Concepts
- 13 The Concept in German Idealism
- 14 Concept, Value and World
- 15 Concepts in the School of Brentano, Husserl and Early Phenomenology
- 16 Two Concepts of Concept in Early Analytic Philosophy
- 17 Concepts in Pragmatism
- 18 Concepts, Meaning and Use
- 19 Concepts in Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer
- 20 Poststructuralist Approaches to the Concept
- 21 Carnap, Quine, Putnam and Burge on Concepts
- 22 Concepts and Conceptual Engineering
- Index
- References
Summary
I draw a contrast between what I call a ‘presentational-phenomenological model of apprehension and ultimate evidence’ – which I attribute to Descartes, Locke and Hume – and Leibniz’s ‘logical-conceptual model of apprehension and ultimate evidence’. Although there are different uses of the word ‘concept’, Leibniz’s model, in my view, illustrates the strictest and best notion of the concept of concepts: one that centrally relies on logic.
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- A Philosophical History of the Concept , pp. 229 - 247Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
De Pierris, Graciela. Ideas, Evidence, and Method: Hume’s Skepticism and Naturalism Concerning Knowledge and Causation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Descartes, René. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Vols. 1–2, edited and translated by John Cottingham, Stoothoff, Robert and Murdoch, Dugald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984–5.Google Scholar
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. New Essays on Human Understanding. Translated by Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Nouvelles lettres et opuscules inédits de Leibniz. Edited by de Careil, Foucher. Paris: Auguste Durand, 1857.Google Scholar
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Philosophical Letters and Papers. Edited by Leroy, E. Loemker. London: D. Reidel, 1976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Die philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. 7 vols. Edited by Gerhardt, C. I.. Berlin: Weidmann, 1875–90.Google Scholar
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe. Edited by Wissenschaften, Deutsche Akademie der. Darmstadt, Leipzig and Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1923–.Google Scholar
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Edited by Nidditch, Peter. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.Google Scholar
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