Leibniz'S Discourse on Metaphysics

Written in 1686, Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics is one of the most important and widely published works in the history of philosophy. This translation and commentary by Christopher Johns has much new to offer.

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The first English translation based on the Akademie Edition, its 'variant apparatus' and Leibniz's handwritten manuscript making this the closest English edition to Leibniz's original

Includes explanatory translator's notes and an extensive commentary on each of the Discourse's 37 sections
Provides historical and biographical context for the work and the author himself
Designed for teachers and students of Early Modern philosophy
Includes a bibliography of primary texts and recommended secondary reading

This new translation is based on the Akademie Edition and its variant apparatus, which tracks all the changes Leibniz made to his text. Christopher Johns translates these changes (placing them in footnotes) and shows how they relate to the main text, adding interesting and sometimes essential detail to your understanding of the main text. Johns also compares the Akademie to Leibniz's handwritten manuscript, correcting some errors. Additionally, a chronicle of Leibniz's activities during the years 1685 and 1686 is included, as are several letters previously unpublished in English that shed light on the intellectual context of the time. The result is a truly scholarly, complete and reliable translation and commentary.

One of the most important philosophical works of the 17th century, Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics brings together key parts of his system: God's perfections, individual substances, the relation of substances to each other, physical laws, the nature of minds and material bodies, innate ideas and the degrees of knowledge, free will and necessity, sin, grace, and the criteria for the best possible world in sum, a metaphysics of nature and religion.