Editing Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (section)

===Early life===
Gottfried Leibniz was born on 1 July {{bracket|[[Old Style|OS]]: 21 June}} 1646, in [[Leipzig]], Saxony, to [[Friedrich Leibniz]] (1597–1652) and Catharina Schmuck (1621–1664).<ref>Sariel, Aviram. "Diabolic Philosophy." Studia Leibnitiana H. 1 (2019): 99–118.</ref>
He was baptized two days later at [[St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig]]; his godfather was the [[Lutheran]] theologian {{Interlanguage link|Martin Geier|de}}.<ref>Kurt Müller, Gisela Krönert, ''Leben und Werk von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Eine Chronik''. Frankfurt a.M., Klostermann 1969, p. 3.</ref> His father died when he was six years old, and Leibniz was raised by his mother.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Philosophy of Leibniz: Metaphysics and Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3M8DwAAQBAJ&q=Gottfried+Leibniz+father+died+when+he+was+six+and+a+half+years+old&pg=PA17|isbn=978-0-19-505946-5|last1=Mates|first1=Benson|year=1989| publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

Leibniz's father had been a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the [[University of Leipzig]], where he also served as dean of philosophy. The boy inherited his father's personal library. He was given free access to it from the age of seven, shortly after his father's death. While Leibniz's schoolwork was largely confined to the study of a small [[Canon (basic principle)|canon]] of authorities, his father's library enabled him to study a wide variety of advanced philosophical and theological works—ones that he would not have otherwise been able to read until his college years.<ref>Mackie (1845), 21</ref> Access to his father's library, largely written in [[Latin]], also led to his proficiency in the Latin language, which he achieved by the age of 12. At the age of 13 he composed 300 [[hexameters]] of [[Latin poetry|Latin verse]] in a single morning for a special event at school.<ref>Mackie (1845), 22</ref>

In April 1661 he enrolled in his father's former university at age 14.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Leibniz.html|title=Leibniz biography|website=history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk|access-date=2018-05-08}}</ref><ref name="Arthur p. 16"/><ref>Mackie (1845), 26</ref> There he was guided, among others, by [[Jakob Thomasius]], previously a student of Friedrich. Leibniz completed his [[bachelor's degree]] in Philosophy in December 1662. He defended his ''Disputatio Metaphysica de Principio Individui'' (''Metaphysical Disputation on the Principle of Individuation''),<ref name="Arthur p. x">Arthur 2014, p. x.</ref> which addressed the [[principle of individuation]], on {{OldStyleDateDY|9 June|1663|30 May}}, presenting an early version of [[Monadology|monadic]] substance theory. Leibniz earned his [[master's degree]] in Philosophy on 7 February 1664. In December 1664 he published and defended a [[dissertation]] ''Specimen Quaestionum Philosophicarum ex Jure collectarum'' (''An Essay of Collected Philosophical Problems of Right''),<ref name="Arthur p. x"/> arguing for both a theoretical and a pedagogical relationship between philosophy and law. After one year of legal studies, he was awarded his bachelor's degree in Law on 28 September 1665.<ref>Hubertus Busche, ''Leibniz' Weg ins perspektivische Universum: Eine Harmonie im Zeitalter der Berechnung'', Meiner Verlag, 1997, p. 120.</ref> His dissertation was titled ''De conditionibus'' (''On Conditions'').<ref name="Arthur p. x"/>

In early 1666, at age 19, Leibniz wrote his first book, ''[[De Arte Combinatoria]]'' (''On the Combinatorial Art''), the first part of which was also his [[habilitation]] thesis in Philosophy, which he defended in March 1666.<ref name="Arthur p. x"/><ref>A few copies of ''De Arte Combinatoria'' were produced as requested for the habilitation procedure; it was reprinted without his consent in 1690.</ref> ''De Arte Combinatoria'' was inspired by [[Ramon Llull]]'s ''[[Ars Magna (Ramon Llull)|Ars Magna]]'' and contained a [[proof of the existence of God]], cast in geometrical form, and based on the [[argument from motion]].{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

His next goal was to earn his license and Doctorate in Law, which normally required three years of study. In 1666, the University of Leipzig turned down Leibniz's doctoral application and refused to grant him a Doctorate in Law, most likely due to his relative youth.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jolley|first=Nicholas|title=The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}:20</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Simmons|first=George|title=Calculus Gems: Brief Lives and Memorable Mathematics|url=https://archive.org/details/calculusgemsbrie0000simm|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=MAA}}:143</ref> Leibniz subsequently left Leipzig.<ref>Mackie (1845), 38</ref>

Leibniz then enrolled in the [[University of Altdorf]] and quickly submitted a thesis, which he had probably been working on earlier in Leipzig.<ref>Mackie (1845), 39</ref> The title of his thesis was ''Disputatio Inauguralis de Casibus Perplexis in Jure'' (''Inaugural Disputation on Ambiguous Legal Cases'').<ref name="Arthur p. x"/> Leibniz earned his license to practice law and his Doctorate in Law in November 1666. He next declined the offer of an academic appointment at Altdorf, saying that "my thoughts were turned in an entirely different direction".<ref>Mackie (1845), 40</ref>

As an adult, Leibniz often introduced himself as "Gottfried [[von]] Leibniz". Many posthumously published editions of his writings presented his name on the title page as "[[Freiherr]] G. W. von Leibniz." However, no document has ever been found from any contemporary government that stated his appointment to any form of [[nobility]].<ref>Aiton 1985: 312</ref>