Revealing the place of God in the naturalistic worldviews of Leibniz and Newton using content analysis

Abstract

The aim is to use examples of Leibnizian and Newtonian works to demonstrate the notion that, under certain conditions, the concept of God can function as a methodological tool for constructing an integral worldview. A content analysis of the texts of Leibniz and Newton was conducted to identify the role of God. The comparative analysis allowed the author to reveal similar aspects in these visions. The differences between Leibniz and Newton are profound, but what unites them is the diversity of their interests and their outstanding roles in the discovery of the analysis of infinitesimals. Natural science problems that could not be solved in the 17th century by exclusively scientific methods led to gaps in the complete view of the world. The concept of God not only made it possible to fill in such gaps, but also served as an instrument of research itself.