Dr Lloyd Strickland (Manchester Metropolitan University) presents: ‘Leibniz's Consilium Aegyptiacum [Egyptian Plan]'

At the end of 1671 and start of 1672, while in the service of the Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, Leibniz composed his Egypt Plan, which sought to persuade Louis XIV to invade Egypt. Leibniz presented the plan not only as a great colonial and mercantile project, but also as a “holy war.” In spite of this, scholars have generally supposed that Leibniz’s rationale for devising the plan was entirely political (to divert Louis from his intended war with Holland) rather than theological, and that Leibniz presented the plan as a holy war only to make an invasion of Egypt more palatable to France’s allies and enemies alike. Against this, I argue that Leibniz did see clear theological benefits to the plan, and that as such we should take seriously his claim that it would be a holy war.

5pm - 7pm
Manchester Metropolitan University, Business School
Room: BS 4.07A