Overview

This volume brings together 124 of Leibniz's writings on some of his most distinctive and ambitious projects including developing a new logic or art of discovery as a tool for uncovering new truths; creating a universal language with a rational, philosophical grammar structured to reflect human reasoning; designing a symbolic script (the characteristic) to facilitate discoveries across all fields of knowledge; planning an encyclopaedia in which existing knowledge would be systematically arranged to yield new insights; and advancing his vision of a collaborative, higher­order science (the general science) that would encompass the foundational principles of all other sciences.The writings in this volume trace the evolution and interconnection of these projects during Leibniz's formative first decade in Hanover (1677DS1686), and is the most extensive collection of such writings in English to date. Strickland has returned to Leibniz's original manuscripts to produce accurate, carefully annotated translations that document textual variations, deletions, and marginalia. Of the 124 texts included, 86 appear here in English for the first time, while five have never been published in any language.In addition to the translations, the volume features a substantial introductory essay on Leibniz's life, work, and writings on a universal language, the characteristic, logic, the encyclopaedia, and general science from 1677 to 1686, along with detailed explanatory notes on each text, providing context, background, and the rationale for their dating.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lloyd Strickland (Independent Scholar, Independent Scholar)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Weight:   0.001kg
ISBN:  

9780198959786

ISBN 10:   0198959788
Pages:   704
Publication Date:   30 April 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   To order  

Table of Contents

Abbreviations Introduction 1. Leibniz's Life 2. Leibniz's Writings 3. Overview: Logic, Universal Language, Characteristic, General Science and Encyclopaedia 4. About the Volumes, Selections of Texts, Apparatus and Typographical Conventions Logic, Universal Language, Characteristic 1. After So Many Logics, The Logic I Want Has Not Yet Been Written 2. Definition 3. Empirical Notions 4. On the Natural Origin of Languages 5. A Dialogue 6. Words 7. Didactic Method 8. On Teaching Languages 9. General Language 10. Universal Language 11. Chrysippus' Heap 12. On a Rational Grammar and the Art of Memory 13. Paradoxes 14. Rational Language 15. On Estimating the Uncertain 16. Analysis of Languages 17. Logical-Grammatical Notes 18. Grammatical Thoughts 19. Tables. Divisions. Method. Genera and Subaltern Species 20. On the Logical Characteristic 21. Primitive Propositions 22. On a General Analytical Calculus 23. On Principles 24. Elements for Building a Calculus 25. Through the Characteristic, We Can Set Up Experiments in Metaphysics 26. Logical Conversion 27. What is Prior by Nature 28. On Negation 29. My Characteristic Requires a New Encyclopaedia 30. Elements of a Universal Characteristic 31. Elements of a Calculus 32. Elements of a Universal Calculus 33. Investigations for a Universal Calculus 34. A Calculus of Inferences 35. A Method of Examining Inferences by Numbers 36. Rules for the Validity of Inferences 37. Rules from which the Validity of Inferences and the Forms and Moods of Categorical Syllogisms Can Be Judged by Means of Numbers 38. Characteristic Numbers Expressed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew 39. On the Universal Characteristic Language and the Art of Discovery 40. Reasoning Calculus, or, the Art of Reasoning Easily and Infallibly 41. Specimen of the Universal Calculus 42. Addenda to Specimen of the Universal Calculus 43. Verbal Characteristic 44. Whether Ideas Have Parts 45. Characteristic 46. Giving a Specimen of the Philosophical Language in Geometry 47. On Primary and Secondary Syllogistic Moods 48. On Mathematically Determining the Forms of Syllogisms 49. On the Demonstration of Non-identical Axioms 50. Method of Disputing Until the Subject is Exhausted 51. On Overcoming an Opponent Quickly 52. A Thread for Thinking, or, on Founding a New Logic 53. The Synthetic Method, that is, the Art of Ordering Theorems and Problems 54. On the Rational Language 55. On True and False, Affirmation and Negation, and Contradictories 56. General Investigations concerning the Analysis of Notions and Truths 57. Specimens of the Rational Calculus 58. Demonstration of the Axioms of Identity and Diversity 59. Definitions: Alike, Similar, Species, Affection 60. A Calculus of Coincidents 61. The Composition of One Thing by Another 62. Specimen of a Calculus of Coincidents and Inexistents 63. Grammatical Analysis for Creating a General Characteristic or Language 64. Principles of Human Knowledge 65. On the Principles of Contradiction and That There Is Nothing Without a Reason General Science and Encyclopaedia 66. The True Method 67. Deleted Remarks on Methods 68. On the Art of Discovery in General 69. On the Most Excellent Use of the Combinatorial Art, Which Is to Write an Encyclopaedia 70. Two Methods of Geometry 71. Universal Atlas 72. A Society or Order of Charity 73. Society of the Friends of God for Celebrating God's Praises and in Opposition to the Atheism Spreading Throughout the World 74. On the Organon or Great Art of Thinking 75. On the Alphabet of Human Thoughts 76. Definitions: Something, Nothing, Substance 77. A Plan for a New Encyclopaedia to Be Written Using the Method of Discovery 78. On the Combinatorial Art of Discovery 79. The Art of Mathematics 80. Preface for The Key to Secret Mathematics 81. On the Synthetic and Analytic Methods 82. On the Usefulness of the Analytic and Synthetic Methods 83. Combinatorics 84. Elements of Mathesis for the Use of Beginners 85. On the Characteristic Art and Analytical or Combinatorial Discoveries in Universal Mathesis 86. Definitions: Good, Perfect, Privative 87. Formulas for Commands in All the Mechanical Arts Following the Example of Military Commands concerning the Handling of Arms and Evolutions 88. Reduction of the Sciences to Figures and Formulas 89. Precognita to the Encyclopaedia, that is, to Universal Science 90. Directing Studies to Happiness 91. Foundations and Specimens of the General Science concerning a New System for the Renewal and Enhancement of the Sciences 92. Foundations and Specimens of the General Science concerning the Renewal and Enhancement of the Sciences 93. Foundations of the General Science 94. Preface for Foundations of the General Science 95. Introduction to the General Science 96. On the Notions that Form the Basis of Everything We Think About 97. On the Literary Republic 98. On Joining the Advances of the Ancients with Ours 99. Preface for a Work on the Renewal of the Sciences 100. On the Elements of Truth 101. Mathematical Reflection on the Transformation of Bodies 102. Synopsis of Foundations and Specimens of the New General Science 103. Foundations and Specimens of the General Science 104. A Rule of Discovery 105. On the Use of the Combinatorial Art in the General Science 106. Idea for a Book Whose Title Will Be New Elements of Universal Mathesis 107. On the Division of the Whole World of the Sciences 108. Introduction to a Secret Encyclopaedia 109. Short Definition of General Science 110. On Universal Synthesis and Analysis, or the Art of Discovery and Judgement (summer 1683 - autumn 1684 (?)) 111. General Observations 112. Division of Terms and Enumeration of Attributes 113. Genera of Terms 114. Divisions 115. A Popular Method of Teaching, and a More Perfect Scientific One 116. On the True Perfection of Humankind 117. Plus Ultra 118. Definitions of Metaphysical and Logical Notions 119. New Proposals 120. Recommendations for Founding the General Science 121. On the Obscuring of Primary Propositions 122. The Elements of Universal Truth 123. For the Preface to The Elements of Eternal Truth 124. The Elements of Reason Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Lloyd Strickland is an Independent Scholar who has taught at Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University (where he was Professor of Philosophy and Intellectual History), the University of Central Lancashire, and the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. His research focuses on the history of western philosophy, especially the thought and reception of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, on which he had published many journal articles and numerous books, including Leibniz on Binary: The Invention of Computer Arithmetic (MIT Press, 2022, with Harry Lewis), Leibniz's Key Philosophical Writings: A Guide (Oxford University Press, 2020, with Paul Lodge), Leibniz's Legacy and Impact (Routledge, 2019, with Julia Weckend), and Leibniz's Monadology (Edinburgh University Press, 2014).

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