 Leibniz first presented his philosophy to the public in an essay titled “Système nouveau de la nature et de la communication des substances, aussi bien que de l’union qu’il y a entre l’âme et le corps” (New system of the nature and communication of substances, and of the union of the soul and body). This essay was published in 1695 in the Journal des savants. If one were to read this essay in isolation from Leibniz’s other writings (as would have been the case with most of his readers) one would likely have no idea that it is an exoteric text. He prefaces the essay in the following way: