Christian Wolff (philosopher) - Works

Works

Wolff's most important works are as follows:

  • Anfangsgründe aller mathematischen Wissenschaften (1710); in Latin, Elementa matheseos universae, 1713–1715)
  • Vernünftige Gedanken von den Kräften des menschlichen Verstandes (1712; Eng. trans. 1770)
  • Vern. Ged. von Gott, der Welt und der Seele des Menschen, auch allen Dingen überhaupt (1719)
  • Vern. Ged. von der Menschen Thun und Lassen (1720)
  • Vern. Ged. von dem gesellschaftlichen Leben der Menschen (1721)
  • Vern. Ged. von den Wirkungen der Natur (1723)
  • Vern. Ged. von den Absichten der natürlichen Dinge (1724)
  • Vern. Ged. von dem Gebrauche der Theile in Menschen, Thieren und Pflanzen (1725); the last seven may briefly be described as treatises on logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, political philosophy, theoretical physics, teleology, physiology
  • Philosophia rationalis, sive logica (1728)
  • Philosophia prima, sive Ontologia (1730)
  • Cosmologia generalis (1731)
  • Psychologia empirica (1732)
  • Psychologia rationalis (1734)
  • Theologia naturalis (1736–1737)
  • Kleine philosophische Schriften, collected and edited by G.F. Hagen (1736–1740).
  • Philosophia practica universalis (1738–1739)
  • Jus naturae and Jus Gentium (1740–1749)
  • Jus Gentium Methodo Scientifica Pertractum (The Law of Nations According to the Scientific Method) (1749)
  • Philosophia moralis (1750–1753).

Wolff's complete writings have been published since 1962 in an annotated reprint collection, and thus are easily accessible:

  • Gesammelte Werke, Jean École et al. (eds.), 3 series (German, Latin, and Materials), Hildesheim-New York: Olms, 1962–.

This includes a volume that unites the three most important older biographies of Wolff.

An excellent modern edition of the famous Halle speech on Chinese philosophy is

  • Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica / Rede über die praktische Philosophie der Chinesen, Michael Albrecht (ed.), Hamburg: Meiner, 1985.

Read more about this topic:  Christian Wolff (philosopher)

Famous quotes containing the word works:

    “Puritanism, in whatever expression, is a poisonous germ. On the surface everything may look strong and vigorous; yet the poison works its way persistently, until the entire fabric is doomed.”
    —Emma Goldman (1869–1940)

    “Piety practised in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and delight those unbodied spirits that survey the works of God and the actions of men; but it bestows no assistance upon earthly beings, and however free from taints of impurity, yet wants the sacred splendour of beneficence.”
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

    “Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence.”
    —Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)