The philosophy of Leibnitz, in the more systematic and abstract form it received at the hands of Wolf, ruled the schools of Germany for nearly a century, and largely determined the character of the critical philosophy by which it was superseded. On it Baumgarten laid the foundations of a science of aesthetic. Its treatment of theological questions heralded the German Aufklärung. And on many special points—in its physical doctrine of the conservation of force, its psychological hypothesis of unconscious perception, its attempt at a logical symbolism—it has suggested ideas fruitful for the progress of science.
Bibliography.—(1) Editions: Up to 1900 no attempt had been made to publish the complete works. Several editions existed, but a vast mass of MSS. (letters, &c.) remained only roughly classified in the Hanover library. The chief editions were: (1) L. Dutens (Geneva, 1768), called Opera Omnia, but far from complete; (2) G. H. Pertz, Leibnizens gesammelte Werke (Berlin, 1843-1863) (1st ser. History, 4 vols.; 2nd ser. Philosophy, vol. i. correspondence with Arnauld, &c., ed. C. L. Grotefend; 3rd ser. Mathematics, 7 vols., ed. C. J. Gerhardt); (3) Foucher de Careil (planned in 20 vols., 7 published, Paris, 1859-1875), the same editor having previously published Lettres et opuscules inédits de Leibniz (Paris, 1854-1857); (4) Onno Klopp, Die Werke von Leibniz gemäss seinem Handschriftlichen Nachlasse in der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Hannover (1st series, Historico-Political and Political, 10 vols., 1864-1877). The Œuvres de Leibnitz, by A. Jacques (2 vols., Paris, 1846) also deserves mention. The philosophical writings had been published by Raspe (Amsterdam and Leipzig, 1765), by J. E. Erdmann, Leibnitii opera philos. quae extant Latina, Gallica, Germanica, omnia (Berlin, 1840), by P. Janet (2 vols., Paris, 1866, 2nd ed. 1900), and the fullest by C. J. Gerhardt, Die Philosophischen Schriften von G. W. Leibniz (7 vols., 1875-1890); cf. also Die kleineren philos. wichtigeren Schriften (trans. with commentary, J. H. von Kirchmann, 1879). The German works had also been partly published separately; G. E. Guhrauer (Berlin, 1838-1840). Of the letters various collections had been published up to 1900, e.g.: C. J. Gerhardt (Halle, 1860) and Der Briefwechsel von G. W. Leibnitz mit Mathematikern (1899); Corrispondenza tra L. A. Muratori e G. Leibnitz (1899); and cf. Neue Beiträge zum Briefwechsel zwischen D. E. Jablonsky und G. W. Leibnitz (1899).
In 1900 it was decided by scholars in Berlin and Paris that a really complete edition should be published, and with this object four German and four French critics were entrusted with the preliminary task of correlating the MSS. in the royal library at Hanover. This process resulted in the preparation of the Kritischer Katalog der Leibnitz-Handschriften zur Vorbereitung der interakademischen Leibnitz-Ausgabe unternommen (1908), and also in certain other preliminary publications, e.g. L. Couturat, Opuscules et fragments inédits (1903); E. Gerland, Leibnizens nachgelassene Schriften physikalischen, mechanischen und technischen Inhalts (1906); Jean Baruzi, Leibniz (1909), containing unedited MSS. and a sketch-biography; cf. the same author’s Leibniz et l’organisation religieuse de la terre (1907).
Translations.—Of the Systema Theologicum (1850, C. W. Russell), of the correspondence with Clarke (1717); Works, by G. M. Duncan (New Haven, 1890); of the Nouveaux Essais, by A. G. Langley (London, 1894); the Monadology and other Writings, by R. Latta (Oxford, 1898).
Biographical.—The materials for the life of Leibnitz, in addition to his own works, are the notes of Eckhart (not published till 1779), the Éloge by Fontenelle (read to the French Academy in 1717), the “Eulogium,” by Wolf, in the Acta Eruditorium for July 1717, and the “Supplementum” to the same by Feller, published in his Otium Hannoveranum (Leipzig, 1718). The best biography is that of G. E. Guhrauer, G. W. Freiherr von Leibnitz (2 vols., Breslau, 1842; Nachträge, Breslau, 1846). A shorter Life of G. W. von Leibnitz, on the Basis of the German Work of Guhrauer, has been published by J. M. Mackie (Boston, 1845). More recent works are those of L. Grote, Leibniz und seine Zeit (Hanover, 1869); E. Pfleiderer, Leibniz als Patriot, Staatsmann, und Bildungsträger (Leipzig, 1870); the slighter volume of F. Kirchner, G. W. Leibniz: sein Leben und Denken (Köthen, 1876); Kuno Fischer, vol. iii. in Gesch. der neuern Philosophie (4th ed., 1902).
Critical.—The monographs and essays on Leibnitz are too numerous to mention, but reference may be made to Feuerbach, Darstellung, Entwicklung, und Kritik der Leibnitz’schen Phil. (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1844); Nourrisson, La Philosophie de Leibniz (Paris, 1860); R. Zimmermann, Leibnitz und Herbart: eine Vergleichung ihrer Monadologien (Vienna, 1849); O. Caspari, Leibniz’ Philosophie beleuchtet vom Gesichtspunkt der physikalischen Grundbegriffe von Kraft und Stoff (Leipzig, 1870); G. Hartenstein, “Locke’s Lehre von der menschl. Erk. in Vergl. mit Leibniz’s Kritik derselben dargestellt,” in the Abhandl. d. philol.-hist. Cl. d. K. Sächs. Gesells. d. Wiss., vol. iv. (Leipzig, 1865); G. Class, Die metaph. Voraussetzungen des Leibnitzischen Determinismus (Tübingen, 1874); F. B. Květ, Leibnitzens Logik (Prague, 1857); the essays on Leibnitz in Trendelenburg’s Beiträge, vols. ii. and iii. (Berlin, 1855, 1867); L. Neff, Leibniz als Sprachforscher (Heidelberg, 1870-1871); J. Schmidt, Leibniz und Baumgarten (Halle, 1875); D. Nolen, La Critique de Kant et la Métaphysique de Leibniz (Paris, 1875); and the exhaustive work of A. Pichler, Die Theologie des Leibniz (Munich, 1869-1870). Among the more recent works are: C. Braig, Leibniz: sein Leben und die Bedeutung seiner Lehre (1907); E. Cassirer, Leibniz’ System in seinem wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen (1902); L. Couturat, La Logique de Leibniz d’après des documents inédits (1901); L. Davillé, Leibniz historien (1909); Kuno Fischer, G. W. Leibniz (1889); R. B. Frenzel, Der Associationsbegriff bei Leibniz (1898); R. Herbertz, Die Lehre vom Unbewussten im System des Leibniz (1905); H. Hoffmann, Die Leibniz’sche Religions-philosophie in ihrer geschichtlichen Stellung (1903); W. Kabitz, Die Philosophie des jungen Leibniz (1909), a study of the development of the Leibnitzian system; H. L. Koch, Materie und Organismus bei Leibniz (1908); G. Niel, L’Optimisme de Leibniz (1888); Bertrand A. W. Russell, A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz (1900); F. Schmöger, Leibniz in seiner Stellung zur tellurischen Physik (1901); A. Silberstein, Leibnizens Apriorismus in Verhältnis zu seiner Metaphysik (1904); Stein, Leibniz und Spinoza (1890); F. Thilly, Leibnizens Streit gegen Locke in Ansehung der angeborenen Ideen (1891); R. Urbach, Leibnizens Rechtfertigung des Uebels in der besten Welt (1901); W. Werckmeister, Der Leibnizsche Substanzbegriff (1899); F. G. F. Wernicke, Leibniz’ Lehre von der Freiheit des menschlichen Willens (1890).
(W. R. So.)
[1] Bedenken, welchergestalt securitas publica interna et externa und status praesens jetzigen Umständen nach im Reich auf festen Fuss zu stellen.
[2] De expeditione Aegyptiaca regi Franciae proponenda justa dissertatio.