The Project Gutenberg eBook ofLeibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical ExpositionThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical ExpositionAuthor: John DeweyRelease date: October 6, 2012 [eBook #40957]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Jana Srna, Adrian Mastronardi and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEIBNIZ'S NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING: A CRITICAL EXPOSITION ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical ExpositionAuthor: John DeweyRelease date: October 6, 2012 [eBook #40957]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Jana Srna, Adrian Mastronardi and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
Title: Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical Exposition
Author: John Dewey
Author: John Dewey
Release date: October 6, 2012 [eBook #40957]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Jana Srna, Adrian Mastronardi and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisfile was produced from images generously made availableby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEIBNIZ'S NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING: A CRITICAL EXPOSITION ***
Transcriber’s Notes:Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation.Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made.They are markedlike thisin the text. The original text appears when hovering the cursor over the marked text.Alist of amendmentsis at the end of the text.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation.
Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made.They are markedlike thisin the text. The original text appears when hovering the cursor over the marked text.Alist of amendmentsis at the end of the text.
GERMAN PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICSFORENGLISH READERS AND STUDENTS.
EDITED BYGEORGE S. MORRIS.
LEIBNIZ’S NEW ESSAYS CONCERNINGTHE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
A CRITICAL EXPOSITION.
By JOHN DEWEY, Ph.D.,ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OFMICHIGAN, AND PROFESSOR (ELECT) OF MENTAL ANDMORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITYOF MINNESOTA
CHICAGO:SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY1902
Copyright, 1888,By S.C.Griggs and Company.
Thepurpose 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 upin totothe 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 accountof 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 histimes, 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.