Get our FREE Newsletter at https://www.PrometheanAction.com — This episode traces how Leibniz’s concept of happiness—rooted in “felicity” and defined as enduring joy grounded in pleasure as the sensation of perfection—shaped political ideas later echoed in the Declaration of Independence. Drawing from Leibniz’s writings (including “On Felicity,” the Discourse on Metaphysics, and a 1715 letter to Christian Wolff), it explains his view that wisdom is the science of happiness integrating all sciences, his emphasis on perfection as harmony and “identity in variety,” and his idea of unending progress in the universe. The script follows the transmission of these ideas to Lord Bolingbroke, highlighting his Paris exile, involvement in salons linked to Electress Sophie’s network, and his influence in the colonies via The Idea of a Patriot King. It contrasts Leibniz’s hierarchy of governing substances and pre-established harmony with Malebranche’s occasionalism and Spinoza’s “one infinite substance,” and connects Leibniz’s vis viva (mv²) debates to broader questions of force, nature, and human flourishing.
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00:00 Setting the Stage 01:19 Felicity and Wisdom 03:10 Leibniz Meets Paris 03:54 Leibniz and Bolingbroke 05:05 Declaration and Metaphysics 06:50 Patriot King Influence 08:54 Defining Happiness 11:30 Pleasure and Perfection 12:53 Perfect World and Progress 16:09 Electress Sophie Background 17:16 Glorious Revolution Fallout 20:03 Sophie Family Networks 25:42 Salon and Philosophical Battles 29:26 Chateau Sceaux Salon Life 32:35 Bolingbroke Transformed 33:29 Calculus Debate Curiosity 35:14 Bolingbroke Paris Salon Network 37:32 Orthodoxy Versus Free Thinkers 42:26 Paris Academy Science Politics 45:54 Vis Viva Force Debate 50:29 Substance Matter And Monads 55:22 Infinity Calculus And Classes 01:02:23 Against Spinoza And Occasionalism 01:09:23 American Legacy And Conclusion
Credits:
Portrait of Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke by W.T. Evy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_St_John,_Viscount_Bolingbroke.jpg
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gottfried_Wilhelm_von_Leibniz_(2).jpg
Electress Sophia (Sophie) of Hanover by Unidentified Painter, Royal House of Hanover https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:German_School_-_Electress_Sophia_of_Hanover.png
Château Sceaux Colbert (later, de Maine) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chateau_Sceaux_Colbert_1683_restitution_Anti_Cabinet.jpg Credit: Franck devedjian (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Painting of Colbert Presenting the Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV in 1667 by Henri Testelin, Museum of the History of France https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colbert_Presenting_the_Members_of_the_Royal_Academy_of_Sciences_to_Louis_XIV_in_1667.PNG
Portrait of Denis Papin by Johann Peter Engelhardt, Kunstmuseum Marburg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denis_Papin.jpg#mw-jump-to-license
Stream waterwheel simple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stream_waterwheel_simple.svg Credit: Malcolm.boura (BY-SA 4.0)
Overshot waterwheel https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overshot_waterwheel_simple.svg Credit: Malcolm.boura (BY-SA 4.0)
Watermill photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roblinsmill.jpg