 Couturat's reading of this paper was the launching point for much 20th-century thinking about Leibniz, especially among analytic philosophers.But after a meticulous study of all of Leibniz's philosophical writings up to 1688—a study the 1999 additions to the critical edition made possible—Mercer (2001) begged to differ with Couturat's reading; the jury is still out.When Leibniz died, his reputation was in decline.