in this two year, general degree course were rhetoric, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He graduated with a bachelors degree in 1663 with a thesis De Principio Individui (On the Principle of the Individual) which emphasized the existential value of the individual, who is not to be explained either by matter alone or by form alone but rather by his whole being. In this is the beginning of his notion of "monad". Leibnitz then went to Jena to spend the summer term of 1663. At Jena the professor of mathematics was Erhard Weigel, who was also a philosopher and through him Leibnitz began to understand the importance of the method of mathematical proof for subjects such as logic and philosophy. Weigel believed that number was the fundamental concept of the universe and his ideas were to have considerable influence of Leibnitz. By October 1663 Leibnitz was back in Leipzig starting his studies towards a doctorate in law. He was awarded his Master's Degree in philosophy for a dissertation, which combined aspects of philosophy and law studying relations in these subjects with mathematical ideas that he had learned from Weigel. A few days after Leibnitz presented his dissertation, his mother died. After being awarded a bachelor's degree in law, Leibnitz worked on his habilitation in philosophy. His work was to be published in 1666 as Dissertatio de arte combinatoria (Dissertation on the combinatorial art). In this work Leibnitz aimed to reduce all reasoning and discovery to a combination of basic elements such as numbers, letters, sounds and colors. Despite his growing reputation and acknowledged scholarship, Leibnitz was refused the doctorate in law at Leipzig. It is a little unclear why this happened. It is likely that, as one of the younger candidates and there only being twelve law tutorships available, he would be expected to wait another year. However, there is also a story that the Dean's wife persuaded the Dean to argue against Leibnitz, for some ...
