"Leibniz believed not only that it was a metaphysical fact that all truths are reducible to primary logical truths, but also that, given an appropriate formal language, all truths should be capable of a priori proof. The means of carrying out such proofs was the subject of one of Leibniz's earliest works, his dissertation De Arte Combinatoria (On the Art of Combinations) written in 1666... In it Leibniz reveals his vision of a Characteristica Universalis, or universal characteristic, that would operate as a formal logic through which all true propositions would be demonstrable, merely through adherence to syntactical rules..."