Illogic Primer Quotes Clippings Books and Bibliography Paper Trails Links Film

Leibniz on the Divine Command Theory

Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology (Courier Dover Publications: March 9, 2012, orig. 1686)

In saying, therefore, that things are not good according to any standard of goodness, but simply by the will of God, it seems to me that one destroys, without realizing it, all the love of God and all his glory; for why praise him for what he has done, if he would be equally praiseworthy in doing the contrary? Where will be his justice and his wisdom if he has only a certain despotic power, if arbitrary will takes the place of reasonableness, and if in accord with the definition of tyrants, justice consists in that which is pleasing to the most powerful?