Idealism Declined: Leibniz and Christian Wolff

Abstract

Christian Wolff has often been seen as Leibniz's direct philosophical descendant. Superficially, there is something to be said for this. On a personal level, Leibniz went out of his way to assist his younger compatriot in securing an academic position and looked favorably on Wolff's contributions to the advancement of learning in Germany. On a philosophical level, there is no doubt that Wolff drew heavily on the resources of Leibniz's philosophy and laid out one path along which that philosophy might be developed. Still, it is easy to exaggerate the depth of the relationship between the two men. Despite the extensive correspondence they carried on for over decade (1704–16), Leibniz and Wolff each were not intimates. As Leibniz viewed the matter near the end of his life, Wolff was a bright and enterprising young academic, who had shown an interest in Leibniz's views and was now principally engaged in teaching mathematics. Wolff was no more eager to claim a close kinship with Leibniz. As a bright and enterprising young academic, he above all wished to secure his reputation as the founder of a philosophical system that was indisputably his own. The last thing he wanted was to be known as a mere epigone of Leibniz. History, though, does not always respect the wishes of its agents, nor historiography the facts of history. Despite what Leibniz and Wolff each may have thought of their relationship, it has come to loom large in the subsequent telling of the history of philosophy.

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