Round 4: Tossup 15

This thinker imagined Alexander the Great’s soul to illustrate both a “complete individual concept” and the “doctrine of marks and traces.” This thinker used Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon to illustrate a theory of truth where predicates are contained within concepts. This thinker argued that only necessary truths are grounded on Aristotle’s principle of non-contradiction, while contingent truths are grounded in what this thinker called the Principle of Sufficient Reason. Before his death in 1716, this thinker argued (10[1])that the only beings were “windowless” (10[1])simple substances, (10[1])which are only fully understood by the all-knowing God described in his Théodicée (10[1])(“tay-oh-dee-SAY”). For 10 points, name this optimistic (10[1])German philosopher who wrote Monadology and claimed that we lived in the best (10[1])of all possible worlds. (10[1])■END■ (10[1]0[1])

ANSWER: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
<EC, Philosophy> | Packet E - Chicago A, Toronto B, Brandeis B, JHU A
= Average correct buzzpoint

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