Leibniz’s View of Reflective Thinking and Its Connection with Learning and Education

Authors

• Visa Helenius University of Turku https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4052-2367

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.119457

Keywords:

self-reflection, Kant, Leibniz, rationalism, reflective thinking, reflection

Abstract

Reflective thinking is related to theories and practices of learning and education. Its theorizing has a winding history. The philosophy of the German rationalist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) includes a view of reflective thinking. In this article, I deal with this view, its interpretation and criticism, and its relation to Leibniz’s views of learning and education. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Leibniz’s view of reflective thinking is detailed but problematic; (2) the view is related to, inter alia, the emergence of experiential and rational knowledge, self-image and moral action, (3) and it has an important connection to Leibniz’s views of learning and education, in that reflective thinking enables learning and education.