The principle of sufficient reason or PSR states that everything must have a sufficient reason. It is similar to the idea that everything must have a cause, a deterministic system of universal causation. A sufficient reason is sometimes described as the coincidence of every single thing that is needed for the occurrence of an effect. The principle is relevant to Munchausen's trilemma, as it seems to suppose an infinite regress, rather than a foundational brute fact. The principle was articulated and made prominent by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Arthur Schopenhauer wrote On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason.
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👉 Principle of sufficient reason in the context of Identity of indiscernibles
The identity of indiscernibles is an ontological principle that states that there cannot be separate objects or entities that have all their properties in common. That is, entities x and y are identical if every predicate possessed by x is also possessed by y and vice versa. It states that no two distinct things (such as snowflakes) can be exactly alike, but this is intended as a metaphysical principle rather than one of natural science. A related principle is the indiscernibility of identicals, discussed below.
A form of the principle is attributed to the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. While some think that Leibniz's version of the principle is meant to be only the indiscernibility of identicals, others have interpreted it as the conjunction of the identity of indiscernibles and the indiscernibility of identicals (the converse principle). Because of its association with Leibniz, the indiscernibility of identicals is sometimes known as Leibniz's law. It is considered to be one of his great metaphysical principles, the other being the principle of noncontradiction and the principle of sufficient reason (famously used in his disputes with Newton and Clarke in the Leibniz–Clarke correspondence).
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Principle of sufficient reason
- 👉 Principle of sufficient reason in the context of Identity of indiscernibles
- Principle of sufficient reason in the context of Kalam cosmological argument
- Principle of sufficient reason in the context of On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason
Principle of sufficient reason in the context of Kalam cosmological argument
The Kalam cosmological argument is a modern formulation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It is named after the Kalam (medieval Islamic scholasticism) from which many of its key ideas originated. Philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig was principally responsible for revitalising these ideas for modern academic discourse through his book The Kalām Cosmological Argument (1979), as well as other publications.
The argument's central thesis is the metaphysical impossibility of a temporally past-infinite universe and of actual infinities existing in the real world, traced by Craig to 11th-century Persian Muslim scholastic philosopher Al-Ghazali. This feature distinguishes it from other cosmological arguments, such as Aquinas's Second Way, which rests on the impossibility of a causally ordered infinite regress, and those of Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, which refer to the principle of sufficient reason.
Principle of sufficient reason in the context of On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (German: Ueber die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom zureichenden Grunde) is an elaboration on the classical principle of sufficient reason, written by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer as his doctoral dissertation in 1813. The principle of sufficient reason is a powerful and controversial philosophical principle stipulating that everything must have a reason or cause. Schopenhauer revised and re-published it in 1847. The work articulated the centerpiece of many of Schopenhauer's arguments, and throughout his later works he consistently refers his readers to it as the necessary beginning point for a full understanding of his further writings.