The Leibniz-Des Bosses Correspondence

G. W. Leibniz, Brandon Look, Donald Rutherford

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9780300138092
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

This volume is a critical edition of the ten-year correspondence (1706-1716) between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, one of Europe's most influential early modern thinkers, and Bartholomew Des Bosses, a Jesuit theologian who was keen to bring together Leibniz's philosophy and the Aristotelian philosophy and religious doctrines accepted by his order. The letters offer crucial insights into Leibniz’s final metaphysics and into the intellectual life of the eighteenth century.

Brandon C. Look and Donald Rutherford present seventy-one of Leibniz's and Des Bosses's letters in the original Latin and in careful English translation. Few of the letters have been translated into English before. The editors also provide extensive annotations, deletions, and marginalia from Leibniz's various drafts, and a substantial introduction setting the context for the correspondence and analyzing the main philosophical issues.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• A Note on the Texts and Translation
• Introduction
• The Leibniz–Des Bosses Correspondence. Part 1
• The Leibniz–Des Bosses Correspondence. Part 2
• Appendix: Catalogue of the Leibniz–Des Bosses Correspondence
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects