The latest volume of Political Writings in the great Berlin-Brandenburg Academy Edition of Leibniz’ Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe reveals once again the astonishing range of Leibniz’ contributions to the political-moral-legal sphere: more than 900 pages document Leibniz’ reflections on augmenting public well-being through new academies of science, on the policies of the Imperial court in Vienna, on the improvement of Imperial finances and military readiness, on the political history of Sachsen-Lauenburg, on the interests of Hannover-Brunswick, on European politics, on (...) “church politics” and ecumenism, on the overcoming of “schism” through wise charity, on coinage and commemorative medallions, even on pensions and life-insurance.. What holds this far-flung, wide-ranging collection together, however, achieving Leibnizian “unity in multiplicity”—as the learned editor of Vol. 4, Dr. Hartmut Rudolph, makes clear in his illuminating Introduction—is Leibniz’ devotion to “the common good;” for Rudolph is entirely right to say that Leibniz reveals his affection for the bonum commune, “the general best,” in a characteristic letter to Emperor Leopold I from 1688: “My entire purpose now,” Leibniz says, “is to forward the general good [das gemeine Beste] through the few talents which God has given me. And this concern for le bien général is crowned, in the present Volume 4, by Leibniz’ magisterial Memoir for Enlightened Persons of Good Intention—of which we finally have a wholly reliable text, thanks to Dr. Rudolph and his colleagues at the Leibniz Arbeitsstelle in Potsdam. (shrink)

The latest volume of Leibniz’ Politische Schriften, in the great Akademie-Ausgabe of the Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, reveals the astonishing range of Leibniz’ political-moral-legal-religious-scientific-cultural concerns: if the first, largest and most important section of this new fifth volume deals with justice and law, that is only to be expected, since Leibniz’ doctoral degree was in law and jurisprudence, and since he served as jurisconsult and “intimate counsellor of justice” to an ever-expanding circle of European rulers: first the Elector (...) of Mainz, then the house of Hannover, then the King of Prussia in Berlin, the Emperor in Vienna, and Czar Peter the Great.. But Politische Schriften vol. 5 also treats “church policy” and charitable religious reconciliation—including a Latin memorial poem on the death of benevolently ecumenical Huguenot-turned-Catholic Pellisson ; the raising of Hannover to the status of an Electorate within the Holy Roman Empire; and the relations of the Reich with Europe, especially with the France of bellicose Louis XIV. Moreover vol. 5 takes up “health policy,” the improvement of the coinage, and numerous schemes for the rational re-ordering of the ducal libraries of Hannover and Wolfenbüttel, with emphasis on books in the so-called “higher-faculties”. And all of these apparently diverse, seemingly scattered matters are coherently linked by Leibniz’ charitable concern for le bien général du genre humain: “Provided that something of importance is achieved, I am indifferent whether it is done in Germany or France, for I seek the good of mankind. I am neither a phil-Hellene nor a philo-Roman, but a philanthropos.”. (shrink)

Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904) regte in seinem Buch Vom Musikalischen-Schonen (1854) die musikasthetische Diskussion des 19. Jahrhunderts entscheidend an. Sein Musikjournalismus brachte ihm den Titel Bismark der Musikkritik (G. Verdi) ein. Gewiss war er der wichtigste Musikschriftsteller seiner Zeit. Vielen Musikliebhabern ist er aber nur als Anfuhrer der Anti-Wagner-Partei im Bewusstsein. Ein Blick auf seine Schriften zwingt zur Revision dieses Bildes, das vor allem von den Neudeutschen gepragt wurde. Seine etwa 1500 Aufsatze und Rezensionen, von denen er nur etwa die (...) Halfte, zumeist stark bearbeitet, in Sammelbanden herausgab, portratieren scharfzungig und witzig sechzig Jahre Musikleben. (shrink)

The latest volume of Leibniz’s “General Political and Historical Correspondence” in the great Berlin-Brandenburg Academy Edition, covering the period May to December 1699, contains a number of letters bearing on Leibniz’s central practical idea—that “universal” justice, rightly conceived, is a positive, other-aiding caritas sapientis seu benevolentia universalis ; that such justice “contains” or encloses all of the moral virtues; and that it relates to “the common good” or “the perfection of the universe” or “the glory of God”— where these three (...) distinct things are morally equivalent in Leibniz’s usual sense. (shrink)

The latest volume of Political Writings in the great Berlin-Brandenburg Academy Edition of Leibniz’ Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe reveals once again the astonishing range of Leibniz’ contributions to the political-moral-legal sphere: more than 900 pages document Leibniz’ reflections on augmenting public well-being through new academies of science, on the policies of the Imperial court in Vienna, on the improvement of Imperial finances and military readiness, on the political history of Sachsen-Lauenburg, on the interests of Hannover-Brunswick, on European politics, on (...) “church politics” and ecumenism, on the overcoming of “schism” through wise charity, on coinage and commemorative medallions, even on pensions and life-insurance.. What holds this far-flung, wide-ranging collection together, however, achieving Leibnizian “unity in multiplicity”—as the learned editor of Vol. 4, Dr. Hartmut Rudolph, makes clear in his illuminating Introduction—is Leibniz’ devotion to “the common good;” for Rudolph is entirely right to say that Leibniz reveals his affection for the bonum commune, “the general best,” in a characteristic letter to Emperor Leopold I from 1688: “My entire purpose now,” Leibniz says, “is to forward the general good [das gemeine Beste] through the few talents which God has given me. And this concern for le bien général is crowned, in the present Volume 4, by Leibniz’ magisterial Memoir for Enlightened Persons of Good Intention—of which we finally have a wholly reliable text, thanks to Dr. Rudolph and his colleagues at the Leibniz Arbeitsstelle in Potsdam. (shrink)

The latest volume of Leibniz’ Politische Schriften, in the great Akademie-Ausgabe of the Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, reveals the astonishing range of Leibniz’ political-moral-legal-religious-scientific-cultural concerns: if the first, largest and most important section of this new fifth volume deals with justice and law, that is only to be expected, since Leibniz’ doctoral degree was in law and jurisprudence, and since he served as jurisconsult and “intimate counsellor of justice” to an ever-expanding circle of European rulers: first the Elector (...) of Mainz, then the house of Hannover, then the King of Prussia in Berlin, the Emperor in Vienna, and Czar Peter the Great.. But Politische Schriften vol. 5 also treats “church policy” and charitable religious reconciliation—including a Latin memorial poem on the death of benevolently ecumenical Huguenot-turned-Catholic Pellisson ; the raising of Hannover to the status of an Electorate within the Holy Roman Empire; and the relations of the Reich with Europe, especially with the France of bellicose Louis XIV. Moreover vol. 5 takes up “health policy,” the improvement of the coinage, and numerous schemes for the rational re-ordering of the ducal libraries of Hannover and Wolfenbüttel, with emphasis on books in the so-called “higher-faculties”. And all of these apparently diverse, seemingly scattered matters are coherently linked by Leibniz’ charitable concern for le bien général du genre humain: “Provided that something of importance is achieved, I am indifferent whether it is done in Germany or France, for I seek the good of mankind. I am neither a phil-Hellene nor a philo-Roman, but a philanthropos.”. (shrink)

Working on Leibniz’s vast essays and texts can seem overwhelming. As exciting as it is to study the details of the Monadology and Discourse on Metaphysics, the Theodicy and the letters to Arnauld, it can be terrifying to sit back and think that there are thousands of other pages of equally sublime and often more difficult philosophical material. The personal notes are particularly daunting. Because Leibniz wrote these for himself, it is often difficult to grasp his reasoning and decipher his (...) underlying philosophical motivation: he typically neither states his most basic assumptions nor articulates how the piece he is presently writing fits into a general plan or project. Sometimes he just plays with an idea or tries out an argument. As Leibniz himself wrote about his notes: “instead of treasure..., you will only find ashes; instead of elaborate works, a few sheets of paper and some poorly expressed vestiges of hasty reflections, which were only saved for the sake of my memory.” But even Leibniz’s more polished essays can be unnerving in manuscript. These sheets—which contain deletions, additions, an enormous number of reformulations, and reconsiderations—reveal an impatient intellect hurrying to express its ideas. Because Leibniz is so often reluctant to set the stage for a philosophical proposal or to acknowledge its various implications, one often has to go well beyond the text in order to understand how the proposal at hand relates to other parts of his thought. Moreover, Leibniz encourages confusion by using one terminology in one text and an entirely different one in another. The moral to the story is clear: one cannot depend either on a single essay or on a small group of passages taken in isolation from others in the same period. When it comes to Leibniz’s writings, it is necessary to take the widest possible textual perspective. (shrink)