Leibniz's 'new System' And Associated Contemporary Texts

by Woolhouse, R. S.; Francks, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780198248453
• ISBN10: 0198248458
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-09
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

Gathered here for the first time are all the key texts in a crucial debate in modern philosophy, centred on Leibniz's famous 1695 essay, the "New System of the Nature of Substances and their Communication," in which he introduced his strikingly original theory of metaphysics. All the texts are newly translated and extensively annotated; many appear in English for the first time.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(6)
The `New System of the Nature of Substances'	7	(30)
Introduction	7	(3)
Leibniz: `New System of the Nature of Substances and their Communication, and of the Union which Exists between the Soul and the Body' (Journal des savants, 27 June and 4 July 1695)	10	(11)
Leibniz: Draft of `New System for Explaining the Nature of Substances and the Communication between them, as well as the Union of the Soul with the Body' (1694?)	21	(6)
Appendix A. Leibniz: Letter to Bossuet, Hanover, 2 July 1694	27	(4)
Appendix B. Leibniz: `Reflections on the Advancement of True Metaphysics and Particularly on the Nature of Substarice Explained by Force' (1694)	31	(4)
Appendix C. Leibniz: Letter to Bossuet, Hanover, dated 3 July 1694	35	(2)
Leibniz and Simon Foucher	37	(24)
Introduction	37	(4)
Foucher: `Reply of M.S.F. to M. de L.B.Z. on his New System of the Communication between Substances, Proposed in the Journals of 27 June and 4 July 1695' (Journal des savants, 12 September 1695)	41	(4)
Leibniz: `Remarks on M. Foucher's Objections' (1695)	45	(2)
Leibniz: `[First] Explanation of the New System of the Communication between Substances, in Reply to what was said of it in the Journal for 12 September 1695' (Journal des savants, 2 and 9 April 1696)	47	(5)
Appendix A. Leibniz: Letter to Foucher, 1686	52	(1)
Appendix B. Leibniz: Letter to Foucher,? 1687/8	53	(2)
Appendix C. Leibniz: Letter to des Billettes, 4 December 1696	55	(1)
Appendix D. Leibniz: Letter to l'Hopital, 12 July 1695; l'Hopital: Letter to Leibniz, 3 September 1695	56	(2)
Appendix E. Leibniz: Letter to l'Hopital, 20 September 1695; l'Hopital: Letter to Leibniz, Ouques, 1 December 1695	58	(3)
Leibniz and Henri Basnage de Beauval	61	(7)
Introduction	61	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Basnage, Hanover, 3 January 1696	62	(2)
Appendix A. Leibniz: Letter to Basnage, late 1695?	64	(1)
Appendix B. Leibniz: `Extract from a Letter by M. Leibniz about his Philosophical Hypothesis ...' (Journal des savants, 19 November 1696) ('Third Explanation of the New System')	65	(3)
Leibniz and Pierre Bayle	68	(65)
Introduction	69	(3)
Bayle: Note H to Dictionary Article `Rorarius' (1697)	72	(3)
Leibniz: Unpublished Comments on Bayle's Note H (1705?)	75	(4)
Leibniz: `A Letter ... to the Editor, Containing an Explanation of the Difficulties which M. Bayle Found with the New System of the Union of the Soul and Body' (Histoire des ouvrages des savants, July 1698)	79	(7)
Bayle: Note L to Dictionary Article `Rorarius' (1702)	86	(10)
Leibniz: Unpublished Comments on Bayle's Note L. (1705?)	96	(11)
Leibniz: Leibniz: `Reply to the Comments in the Second Edition of M. Bayle's Critical Dictionary, in the Article ``Rorarius'', Concerning the System of Pre-established Harmony' (1702; pub. Histoire critique de la Republique des lettres, 1716)	107	(19)
Leibniz: Letter to Bayle, 1702?	126	(7)
Leibniz and Francois Lamy	133	(38)
Introduction
Leibniz: `Supplement to the Explanation of the New System Regarding the Soul and the Body, Sent to Paris on the Occasion of a Book Entitled The Knowledge of the Self' (1698?)	138	(27)
Lamy: Extracts from The Knowledge of the Self (1699)
Leibniz: Remarks on Lamy (November 1702)
Leibniz: `Reply to the Objections that the Author of the book The Knowledge of the Self made against the System of Pre-established Harmony' (1704; pub. Supplement du Journal des savants du dernier de juin 1709, 1709)	165	(6)
Leibniz and Isaac Jaquelor	171	(31)
Introduction	171	(3)
Jaquelot: Letter to Leibniz, 2 February 1704	174	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, Wolfenbuttel, 9 February 1704	175	(2)
Jaquelot: Letter to Leibniz, 10 March 1704	177	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, n.d.	178	(1)
Jaquelot: Letter to Leibniz, 25 April 1704	179	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, Hanover, 28 April 1704?	180	(3)
Jaquelot: `A Brief System of the Soul and Freedom' (1705) (Appendix to The Conformity of Faith with Reason, or The Defence of Religion against the Principal Difficulties Detailed in M. Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary)	183	(4)
Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, Berlin, 4 September 1704	187	(3)
Jaquelot: Letter to Leibniz, 6 September 1704	190	(2)
Leibniz: Notes on Jaquelot's letter of 6 September 1704	192	(2)
Jaquelot: Letter to Leibniz, 12 September 1704	194	(2)
Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, n.d.	196	(4)
Appendix A. Leibniz: Letter to Jaquelot, 22 March 1703	200	(2)
Leibniz and Damaris Masham	202	(24)
Introduction	203	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Masham, early 1704?	203	(1)
Masham: Letter to Leibniz, Oates, 29 March 1704	203	(1)
Leibniz: Letter to Masham, Hanover, beginning of May 1704	204	(3)
Masham: Letter to Leibniz, Oates, 3 June 1704	207	(3)
Leibniz: Letter to Masham, Hanover, 30 June 1704	210	(5)
Masham: Letter to Leibniz, Oates, 8 August 1704	215	(3)
Leibniz: Letter to Masham, Luzenberg, near Berlin, September 1704	218	(2)
Appendix A. Leibniz: Letter to Sophie Charlotte, Hanover, 8 May 1704	220	(6)
Leibniz and Pierre Desmaizeaux	226	(20)
Introduction	226	(2)
Desmaizeaux: `Explanation of a Passage in Hippocrates' book Diet...To Serve as a Response to Part of M. Leibniz's ``New System of the Nature and the Communication of Substances, or of Pre-established Harmony''' (1700; pub. Histoire critique de la Republique des lettres, 1716)	228	(10)
Leibniz: `A Letter ... to M. Desmaizeaux, Containing some Comments on the Preceding Explanation, and on other Parts of the ``System of Pre-established Harmony, etc.''' (1711; pub. Histoire critique de la Republique des lettres, 1716)	238	(2)
Appendix A. Desmaizeaux: Preface to Recueil (1719; pub. 1720)	240	(3)
Appendix B. Desmaizeaux: `Letter to M. l'Abbe Conti, Containing the Explanation of a Passage from Hippocrates' (1718; pub. Recueil, 1720)	243	(1)
Appendix C. Leibniz: Letter to Samuel Masson, 21 August 1716	244	(2)
Leibniz and Rene Joseph de Tournemine	246	(7)
Introduction	246	(1)
De Tournemine: `Conjectures on the Union of the Soul and the Body' (Memoires de Trevoux, May 1703)	247	(2)
Leibniz: Extract from `Comment on an article in the Memoires de Trevoux for March 1704' (Memoires de Trevoux, 1708)	249	(2)
De Tournemine: `Father Tournemine's Reply' (Memoires de Trevoux, March 1708)	251	(2)
Index	253