2024/25 Newsletter

Winner of 2024 Essay Contest

The winners of the LSNA’s 2024 Essay Contest are Omar Hraoui (University of Venice/Radboud University) and Osvaldo Ottaviani (Radboud University), “Force, Inertia, and the Constitution of Bodies: Leibniz’s Reappropriation of Kepler in the 1690s. A New Account Based on an Unpublished Manuscript (LH 35, 15, 6, Bl. 28-29)”

Congratulations to the winners! And many thanks to the contest’s coordinator, Larry Jorgensen, and the panel of judges.

Call for papers, Forty-Third Annual Essay Contest (2025)

In an effort to encourage the study of the philosophy of Leibniz in North America and to give recognition to deserving scholars, the Leibniz Society of North America (LSNA) is continuing its annual Essay Competition. Submitted essays should be on some aspect of the philosophy of Leibniz (including his reception and his various correspondences, e.g. with female philosophers). They should be from twelve to twenty-five pages in length (double-spaced), and should be submitted by June 1, 2025. The author of the winning essay will have the option of publishing it in the Leibniz Review.

Previous one-time winners are encouraged to re-enter, but a given person can win the competition at most twice. Judges reserve the right not to name a winner in the event that none of the submissions is deemed to be of sufficient quality or suitability for the award.

Submission Guidelines: To facilitate anonymous judging, the author’s name should be given only on a separate title page or cover sheet and should not appear in the body or footnotes of the paper; neither should identifiable information such as full references to publications by the author. Full scholarly apparatus is preferred but not required; sufficiently developed works-in-progress will, therefore, have a chance in the competition and may be submitted. Essays in French may be submitted as well as in English. Please send submissions by email attachment (Word or pdf format) to the Coordinator of the LSNA Essay Competition: Adam Harmer, Department of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside: (adam.harmer@ucr.edu).

Nineteenth Annual Conference

The Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Leibniz Society of North America will be held at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, October 17–19, 2025. In person attendance is strongly preferred, but for this conference we wish to offer the opportunity to participate online, especially for participants from outside the U.S.

Papers on any aspect of Leibniz’s philosophy will be considered. Proposals that explore connections between Leibniz’s thought and other non-canonical early modern philosophers, especially women, are particularly welcome. Papers on figures within the loosely Leibnizian orbit, including (but not limited to) Masham, Conway, Wolff, Du Châtelet, etc., will also be considered.

Presentations should have a reading time of approximately 45 minutes. Commentators will be paired with accepted submissions.

Our keynote speakers will be Julia Borcherding (University of Cambridge) and Andrew Janiak (Duke University). Borcherding’s talk is tentatively titled Missed Connections: Leibniz and the “English Ladies”. Janiak’s talk is titled The Vis Viva Debate in Leibniz, Clarke and Du Châtelet.

Submissions from graduate students and early career scholars will be given special consideration. The LSNA may be able to offer some travel funding to speakers in these categories who do not have sufficient funding from their home institutions, in order to offset the costs of attending the meeting.

Submissions should take the form of abstracts of approx. 500 words in length, prepared for anonymous review. They should be submitted, as attachments to emails in PDF format, to Stephen Puryear (smpuryear@ncsu.edu). The deadline for the receipt of submissions is June 1, 2025. Authors will be notified by June 15 of the program committee’s decision. Selected authors will be expected to send complete drafts of their presentations to their commentators by September 15, 2025.

LSNA Group Session at the Eastern APA

The LSNA held a group session at the Eastern APA (January 15–18, 2024).  The session topic was “Faith and Reason: In Memory of Maria Rosa Antognazza.”  The session was chaired by Marleen Rozemond and included papers by Kristen Irwin, ”Rational and Theological Grounds for Religious Toleration in Leibniz”, and Larry Jorgensen, “‘God as architect satisfies God as legislator’: Leibniz on the Natural Consequences of Injustice.”

Martha Brandt Bolton (1943–2024)

Martha Brandt Bolton, a very important figure in recent Leibniz scholarship, and a former president of the LSNA, passed away in October, 2024. For more information about Martha, see The Leiter Report.

Nicholas Rescher (1928–2024)

Nicholas Rescher, a very important figure in Leibniz scholarship, and a former president of the LSNA, passed away in January, 2024. For more information about Nicholas, see PittWire.

Editorship of the Leibniz Review:

Glenn Hartz is stepping down as editor of the Leibniz Review after the 2024 issue; the LSNA is enormously grateful to him for serving in this role for such a long time (and indeed for founding the journal!). the Executive Committee has appointed Larry Jorgensen as the new editor of the Leibniz Review, starting with the 2025 issue.

Minutes of Business Meeting, October 29, 2024 (virtual)

present: Marleen Rozemond, Ursula Goldenbaum, Jeff McDonough, Adam Harmer, Stephen Puryear, Larry Jorgensen, Hao Dong, Martin Lin, Mike Hansen, Julia Jorati

President Rozemond opens the meeting at 12:03pm EST.

The proposal to update the LSNA Constitution passes unanimously. The changes are as follows:

  • Art VI: With the exception of the Editor and the Secretary-Treasurer, no officer may immediately succeed themselves [himself or herself] in the office to which they have [he or she has] been elected.
  • Art IX: There shall be the following Standing Committees of the Society: A) The Executive Committee shall consist of the Officers, Board Members, and those who have served as President within the last three years. The President of the Society shall serve ex-officio as Chairman of the Executive Committee. B) The Program Committee shall consist of the Vice-President, who shall serve ex-officio as Chairman, and any other members of the Society the Vice-President [he] shall deem it appropriate to appoint. C) The Society may establish other standing committees as it deems appropriate.

Next meetings and other conference-related discussion:

  • The next meeting will be held at the University of California, Riverside, October 17–19, 2025, organized by Adam Harmer.
  • Meeting in 2026: Stephen Puryear offered to host
  • Suggestion: perhaps we could organize an event in honor of Bob Adams?
  • The possibility of having a theme for the 2025 conference, and possibly offering a prize for the best paper on Leibniz and early modern women philosophers, was discussed. Adam Harmer will consider these options.

Editorship of the Leibniz Review:

  • Glenn Hartz is stepping down as editor after the 2024 issue; the LSNA is enormously grateful to him for serving in this role for such a long time (and indeed for founding the journal!)
  • The Executive Committee has appointed Larry Jorgensen as the new editor of the Leibniz Review, starting with the 2025 issue.

Financial reports:

  • LSNA finances: we currently have $10,276.93 in the LSNA bank account. Our more recent annual net revenue (February 2024) was $966.99. 
  • Leibniz Review finances: There are currently $32,463 in the LR account. The approximate annual net revenue is $1,000.

Membership numbers and related discussion:

  • We currently have around 80 members. That is similar to last year, but down significantly from a few years ago.
  • Suggestion: to increase interest in Leibniz, we could host a conference on Leibniz and early modern women, or perhaps specifically on Leibniz and Du Châtelet. We could offer a prize for the best graduate student paper submitted to the conference, or a prize for the best paper on Leibniz and early modern women philosophers. Perhaps we could organize a joint conference with another society, such as the Du Châtelet society.

Election:

  • The election will be held electronically over the next few weeks. The nominees are as follows:
  • Stephen Puryear as Vice president (replacing Jeffrey McDonough, whose term is ending)
  • John Whipple for Secretary/Treasurer (replacing Julia Jorati, whose term is ending). 
  • Julia Borcherding’s term on the EC is ending, but she is happy to continue for another term.
  • Hao Dong as an at-large member of the EC (replacing Larry Jorgensen, whose term is ending)
  • If Stephen Puryear moves to the position of Vice President, that requires an additional at-large member of the Executive Committee. We are nominating Arnaud Pelletier for that position.

President Rozemond closes the meeting.