tailieunhanh - Philosophical Essays

GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ was born on July 1, 1646, in Leipzig. His father, Friedrich, a scholar and a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Leipzig, died in September 1652, when Leibniz was only six years old. But despite his father's early death, the younger Leibniz was later to recall how his father had instilled in him a love of learning. Learning was, indeed, to become an important part of his life. Leibniz began school when he was seven years old. Even so, he later describes himself as selftaught.' Leibniz seems to have taught himself Latin at age seven or eight, in order to read editions. | Translated by Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber G. w. Leibniz Philosophical Essays Edited and Translated by Roger Anew and Daniel Garber Hackett Publishing Company Indianapolis Cambridge For the next generation David Elisabeth Hannah and Daniel The authors are grateful to Richard Arthur David Blumenfeld Stuart Brown Daniel Cook Alan Gabbey Nicholas Jolley Harlan Miller and M. A. Stewart for their thoughtful suggestions for the changes that appear in this printing. We especially appreciate the care with which Jonathan Bennett worked through our text and suggested many changes greatly improving the text. Copyright 1989 by Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 14 13 12 11 10 6 7 8 9 10 Cover design by Listenberger Design Associates Interior design by Dan Kirklin For furtheer information please address Hackett Publishing Company Inc. . Box 44937 Indianapolis Indiana 46244-0937 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von 1646-1716. Philosophical essays edited and translated by Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber p. cm. Bibliography p. Includes index. ISBN 0-87220-063-9 ISBN 0-87220-062-0 pbk. 1. Philosophy Early works to 1800. I. Ariew Roger. II. Garber Daniel 1949- . III. Title. B2558 1989 88-38259 193 de 19 CIP ISBN-13 978-0-87220-063-0 cloth ISBN-13 978-0-87220-062-3 pbk The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials ANSI . Contents Introduction 1. Leibniz Life and Works vii 2. Principle of Selection and Rationale for the Volume X 3. Selected Bibliography of the Works of Leibniz xii 4. Selected Bibliography ofSecondary Works xiii 5. Translations and Other Texts Referred to in the Notes xiv Part I. Basic Works 1. Letter to Foucher 1675 1 2. Preface to a Universal Characteristic 1678-79 5 3. Samples of the Numerical .