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  GERMAN PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICS
  FOR
  ENGLISH READERS AND STUDENTS.

  EDITED BY
  GEORGE S. MORRIS.

  LEIBNIZ'S NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING
  THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.




  LEIBNIZ'S
  NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING THE
  HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.

  A CRITICAL EXPOSITION.

  By JOHN DEWEY, Ph.D.,

  ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
  MICHIGAN, AND PROFESSOR (ELECT) OF MENTAL AND
  MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY
  OF MINNESOTA

  CHICAGO:
  SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY
  1902


  Copyright, 1888,
  By S. C. Griggs and Company.




PREFACE.


The purpose of the series of which the present volume is one, is not,
as will be seen by reference to the statement in the initial volume,
to sum up _in toto_ the system of any philosopher, but to give a
"critical exposition" of some one masterpiece. In treating the
"Nouveaux Essais" of Leibniz, I have found myself obliged, at times,
to violate the letter of this expressed intention, in order to fulfil
its spirit. The "Nouveaux Essais," in spite of its being one of the
two most extended philosophical writings of Leibniz, is a compendium
of comments, rather than a connected argument or exposition. It has
all the suggestiveness and richness of a note-book, but with much also
of its fragmentariness. I have therefore been obliged to supplement my
account of it by constant references to the other writings of Leibniz,
and occasionally to take considerable liberty with the order of the
treatment of topics. Upon the whole, this book will be found, I hope,
to be a faithful reflex not only of Leibniz's thought, but also of his
discussions in the "Nouveaux Essais."

In the main, the course of philosophic thought since the time of
Leibniz has been such as to render almost self-evident his limitations,
and to suggest needed corrections and amplifications. Indeed, it is
much easier for those whose thoughts follow the turn that Kant has
given modern thinking to appreciate the defects of Leibniz than to
realize his greatness. I have endeavored, therefore, in the body
of the work, to identify my thought with that of Leibniz as much
as possible, to assume his standpoint and method, and, for the most
part, to confine express criticism upon his limitations to the final
chapter. In particular, I have attempted to bring out the relations
of philosophy to the growing science of his times, to state the
doctrine of pre-established harmony as he himself meant it, and to give
something like consistency and coherency to his doctrine of material
existence and of nature. This last task seemed especially to require
doing. I have also endeavored to keep in mind, throughout, Leibniz's
relations to Locke, and to show the "Nouveaux Essais" as typical of the
distinction between characteristic British and German thought.

    JOHN DEWEY.

_May_, 1888.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.

  The Man.

                                                                    PAGE

  His Parents                                                          1

  His Early Education                                                  2

  His University Training at Leipsic                                   4

  At Jena                                                              8

  At the University of Altdorf                                        10

  His Removal to Frankfurt                                            10

  His Mission to Paris                                                11

  Discovery of the Calculus                                           12

  Librarian at Hanover                                                13

  His Activities                                                      14

  His Philosophic Writings                                            15

  His Ecclesiastic and Academic Projects                              17

  His Later Years and Death                                           18


  CHAPTER II.

  Sources of his Philosophy.

  Character of the Epoch into which Leibniz was born                  20

  The Thought of the Unity of the World                               23

  The two Agencies which formed Leibniz's Philosophy                  24

  The Cartesian Influences                                            26

  Rationalistic Method                                                28

  Mechanical Explanation of Nature                                    30

  Application of