The principle of sufficient reason states that anything that happens does so for a definite reason. It is usually attributed to Gottfried Leibniz.^[1] Reason is a term used in philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the faculty of the human mind that creates and operates with abstract concepts. ... Leibniz redirects here. ...

Formulation

In other words, the principle denies that contingent events are really so, rather than a description of our ignorance of their detailed causes. It is therefore strongly linked to ideas of determinism. Its importance is mainly historical, in relation to the debate on determinism, and rationalism in general. Modal logic, or (less commonly) intensional logic is the branch of logic that deals with sentences that are qualified by modalities such as can, could, might, may, must, possibly, and necessarily, and others. ... Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...

"Thus the sufficient reason, which needs no other reason, must be outside this series of contingent things, and must be found in a substance which is its cause, and which is a necessary being, carrying the reason of its existence with itself. Otherwise, we would not yet have a sufficient reason where one could end the series."

Leibniz's view

In fact Leibniz opposed fatalism and had a more nuanced and characteristic version of the principle, in which the contingent was admitted on the basis of infinitary reasons, to which God had access but humans did not. He explained this while discussing the problem of the future contingents: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... In mathematics or logic, a finitary operation is one, like those of arithmetic, that take a number of input values to produce an output. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... The problem of the futures contingents is a logical paradox first posed by Diodorus Cronus from the Megarian school of philosophy, under the name of the dominator, and then reactualized by Aristotle in chapter 9 of De Interpretatione. ...

We have said that the concept of an individual substance [ Leibniz also uses the term haecceity ] includes once for all everything which can ever happen to it and that in considering this concept one will be able to see everything which can truly be said concerning the individual, just as we are able to see in the nature of a circle all the properties which can be derived from it. But does it not seem that in this way the difference between contingent and necessary truths will be destroyed, that there will be no place for human liberty, and that an absolute fatality will rule as well over all our actions as over all the rest of the events of the world? To this I reply that a distinction must be made between that which is certain and that which is necessary. (§13, Discourse on Metaphysics) Haecceity (transliterated from the Latin haecceitas) is a term in medieval philosophy first coined by Duns Scotus. ... The Discourse on Metaphysics (Discours de métaphysique, 1686) is a short (60 pages in translation) book by Gottfried Leibniz in which he develops a philosophy concerning physical substance, motion and resistance of bodies, and Gods role within the universe. ...

Without this qualification, the principle can be seen as a description of a certain notion of closed system, in which there is no 'outside' to provide unexplained events with causes. It is also in tension with the paradox of Buridan's ass. In thermodynamics, a closed system, as contrasted with an isolated system, can exchange heat and work, but not matter, with its surroundings. ... Buridans ass is the common name for the paradox which states that an entirely rational ass, placed exactly in the middle between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality, will starve since it cannot make any rational decision to start eating one rather than the other. ...

As a Law of Thought

The principle was one of the four recognised laws of thought, that held a place in European pedagogy of logic and reasoning (and, to some extent, philosophy in general) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It was influential in the thinking of Leo Tolstoy, amongst others, in the elevated form that history could not be accepted as random. There were four classic laws of thought recognised in European thought of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, which held sway also during nineteenth century (while subject to greater debate). ... Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. ... Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, (but coming to mean thought or reason) is the study of criteria for the evaluation of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy among philosophers. ... Reasoning is the act of using reason to derive a conclusion from certain premises. ... Socrates (central bare-chested figure) about to drink hemlock as mandated by the court. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: , Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 [O.S. August 28] – November 20, 1910 [O.S. November 7]) was a Russian novelist, writer, essayist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of... HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I is a two-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. The first disc (HIStory Begins) is a fifteen-track greatest hits (later released as Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I), while the second disc (HIStory... Random redirects here. ...

Schopenhauer's Four Forms

Main article: On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason

According to Schopenhauer's On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, there are four distinct forms of the principle. Originally published as a doctoral dissertation in 1813, Arthur Schopenhauer revised this important work and re-published it in 1847. ... Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher born in Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. ... Originally published as a doctoral dissertation in 1813, Arthur Schopenhauer revised this important work and re-published it in 1847. ...

• Principle of Sufficient Reason of Becoming

If a new state of one or several real objects appears, another state must have preceded it upon which the new state follows regularly.

• Principle of Sufficient Reason of Knowing

If a judgment is to express a piece of knowledge, it must have a sufficient ground. By virtue of this quality, it receives the predicate true. Truth is therefore the reference of a judgment to something different therefrom.

• Principle of Sufficient Reason of Being

The position of every object in space and the succession of every object in time is conditioned by another object's position in space and succession in time.

• Principle of Sufficient Reason of Acting

Every human decision is the result of an object that necessarily determines the human's will by functioning as a motive.

See also

• deterministic system (philosophy)

A deterministic system is a conceptual model of the philosophical doctrine of determinism applied to a system for understanding everything that has and will occur in the system, based on the physical outcomes of causality. ...

Notes

1. ^ There are numerous anticipations. One often pointed to is in Anselm of Canterbury: his phrase quia Deus nihil sine ratione facit[1] and the formulation of the ontological argument for the existence of God. A clearer connection is with the cosmological argument for the existence of God. The principle can be seen in both Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham. Leibniz formulated it, but was not an originator. See chapter on Leibniz and Spinoza in A. O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being.

Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 or 1034 – April 21, 1109) was an Italian medieval philosopher and theologian, who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. ... In theology and the philosophy of religion, an ontological argument for the existence of God is an argument that Gods existence can be proved a priori, that is, by intuition and reason alone. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. ... William of Ockham William of Ockham (also Occam or any of several other spellings) (c. ... Arthur Oncken Lovejoy (October 10, 1873, Berlin – December 30, 1962, Baltimore) was an influential American intellectual historian, who founded the field known as the history of ideas. ...

External link

• A Defense of a Principle of Sufficient Reason by Quentin Smith