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LIEBNITZ
89
Fenelon on the question of “disinterested love,” Leibnitz agrees with Fenelon, affirming the reality and the value of such love; he however emphasizes the fact that the happiness of others likewise affects us by way of reaction. He regards justice, conceived as the harmony of love and wisdom (caritas sapientis), as the highest virtue. Love is the end, and wisdom discovers the means.—Leibnitz’ theory, which he elaborated in two small dissertations, Von der Glückseligkeit and De nutionibus juris et justitiæ, is closely related to that of Shaftesbury, with which we shall become acquainted in the next division. Even Leibnitz himself referred to their similarity.
