Of all the thinkers of the century of genius that inaugurated modern philosophy, none lived an intellectual life more rich and varied than Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Maria Rosa Antognazza's pioneering biography provides a unified portrait of this unique thinker and the world from which he came. At the centre of the huge range of Leibniz's apparently miscellaneous endeavours, Antognazza reveals a single master project lending unity to his extraordinarily multifaceted life's work. Throughout the vicissitudes of his long life, Leibniz tenaciously pursued the dream of a systematic reform and advancement of all the sciences. As well as tracing the threads of continuity that bound these theoretical and practical activities to this all-embracing plan, this illuminating study also traces these threads back into the intellectual traditions of the Holy Roman Empire in which Leibniz lived and throughout the broader intellectual networks that linked him to patrons in countries as distant as Russia and to correspondents as far afield as China.

玛丽亚•罗莎•安托内萨是伦敦国王学院宗教哲学学科的讲师。作为由英国社会科学院、奥古斯特公爵图书馆以及莱弗休姆信托基金会所颁发的学术奖金的获得者，她是《莱布尼茨的三位一体及道成肉身论：17世纪的理性与启示》一书的作者，并参与编写了《剑桥18世纪哲学史》。