SOURCE: An introduction to Leibniz: Philosophical Writings, revised edition, edited by G. H. R. Parkinson, translated by Mary Morris and G. H. R. Parkinson, Dent, 1973, pp. vii-xix.

In the following excerpt from an essay written in 1972, Parkinson presents an overview of Leibniz's philosophical and scientific theories.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig on 1 July 1646. The son of a professor of moral philosophy, he studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Jena. Germany had been devastated by the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648, and the general cultural backwardness of the country was reflected in the German universities. It may have been this that decided Leibniz to reject the offer of a professorship in 1667, and to enter instead the service of the Baron of Boineburg, who had been a minister of the Elector of Mainz. This proved to be of great, perhaps of decisive importance in Leibniz's career...