Philosophically speaking, Knutzen took an anti-Leibnizian standpoint, sustaining that the theory of pre-established harmony was as wrong, just like occasionalism, and that the only reasonable theory was that of physical influx, as suggested by Descartes and Newton thought about the concept of living force, dead pressure and momentum.
22.
Knutzen studied philosophy, mathematics and physics at the University of K�nigsberg ( the present Kaliningrad ), gaining his Leibniz'and Wolff's theory of pre-established harmony, defending the concept of mechanical causality in the movement of physical objects; his lessons on the matter would influence the later work of Kant, who sought to reconcile the autonomy of the spiritual with the reality of the mechanical in the " Critique of Judgement ."
23.
The baron and Pangloss relate how they survived, but despite the horrors he has been through, Pangloss's optimism remains unshaken : " I still hold to my original opinions, because, after all, I'm a philosopher, and it wouldn't be proper for me to recant, since Leibniz cannot be wrong, and since pre-established harmony is the most beautiful thing in the world, along with the subtle matter ."
