Virtue, Reason, and Cultural Exchange: Leibniz's Praise of Chinese Morality

Journal of the History of Ideas

Volumn 63, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 447-463

  Perkins, Franklin ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0347068986     PISSN: 00225037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3654317     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Leibniz Selections., tr. Philip Wiener (New York, 1951), 596-97.
2. I am grateful to Nicholas Jolley for drawing my attention to the contrast in these terms, particularly as a contrast between Lockean and Leibnizian views of tolerance.
3. Opuscules et Fragmens Inédits de Leibniz, ed. Louis Couturat (Hildesheim, 1966), 21, and G. W. Leibniz: Philosophical Essays, tr. Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber (Indianapolis, 1989), 33.
4. Opuscules et Fragmens Inédits de Leibniz, ed. Louis Couturat (Hildesheim, 1966), 21, and G. W. Leibniz: Philosophical Essays, tr. Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber (Indianapolis, 1989), 33.
5. Die Philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, ed. C. I. Gerhardt (7 vols.; Hildesheim, 1978), VII, 263-64, and Philosophical Papers and Letters, tr. Leroy Loemker (Boston, 1956), 207.
6. Die Philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, ed. C. I. Gerhardt (7 vols.; Hildesheim, 1978), VII, 263-64, and Philosophical Papers and Letters, tr. Leroy Loemker (Boston, 1956), 207.
7. Nouveaux Essais, II, viii, §1; original in Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, ed. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin, 1923-), Reihe VI, Band vi (abbreviated hereafter as "A") in New Essays on Human Understanding, tr. Peter Remnant and Jonathon Bennet (Cambridge, 1981), 131.
8. Nouveaux Essais, II, viii, §1; original in Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, ed. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin, 1923-), Reihe VI, Band vi (abbreviated hereafter as "A") in New Essays on Human Understanding, tr. Peter Remnant and Jonathon Bennet (Cambridge, 1981), 131.
9. Nouveaux Essais, II, viii, §1; original in Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, ed. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin, 1923-), Reihe VI, Band vi (abbreviated hereafter as "A") in New Essays on Human Understanding, tr. Peter Remnant and Jonathon Bennet (Cambridge, 1981), 131.
10. Novissima Sinica, 1 (hereafter NS) in Writings on China, tr. and ed. Daniel Cook and Henry Rosemont Jr. (Chicago, 1994).
11. Novissima Sinica, 1 (hereafter NS) in Writings on China, tr. and ed. Daniel Cook and Henry Rosemont Jr. (Chicago, 1994).
12. Leibniz to Verjus, 2 December 1697; Korespondiert mit China, ed. Rita Widmaier (Frankfurt, 1990), 55.
13. Leibniz to Verjus, 2 December 1697; Korespondiert mit China, ed. Rita Widmaier (Frankfurt, 1990), 55.
14. See Franklin Perkins, "The Theoretical Basis of Comparative Philosophy in Leibniz' Writings on China," Das Neueste Uber China, G. W. Leibnizens Novissima Sinica von 1697, ed. Wenchao Li and Hans Poser (Stuttgart, 2000).
15. Widmaier, Korespondiert mit China, 34.
16. See Widmaier, Korespondiert mit China, 7-10.
17. Ibid., 6-7.
18. Ibid., 62-63.
19. A, I, 1, 192.
20. NS, 2.
21. Ibid., 3.
22. Ibid., 10.
23. Ibid., 17.
24. NS, 3.
25. NS, 10.
26. Virgile Pinot, La Chine et la Formation de L'esprit Philosophique en France (1640-1740) (Geneva, 1971), 352.
27. See letters from 13 November 1691 (A, I, 7, 189) and December (end) 1691 (A, I, 7, 231).
28. See letters from 13 November 1691 (A, I, 7, 189) and December (end) 1691 (A, I, 7, 231).
29. Widmaier, Korespondiert mit China, 186.
30. NS, 4.
31. Widmaier, Korespondiert mit China, 61-62.
32. A, I, 7, 312.
33. See Patrick Riley, Leibniz ' Universal Jurisprudence (Cambridge, 1996).
34. Causa Dei, appendix to the Theodicy, section 105, and Die Philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, VI.
35. Riley, Leibniz' Universal Jurisprudence, 44, 48.
36. Vorausedition zur Reihe VI in der Ausgabe der Akademie der DDR (Münster, 1982-), 2486.
37. NE, IV, viii, § 9.
38. Theodicy, section 52, Die Philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, VI, Theodicy, tr. E. M. Huggard (London, 1951).
39. Preliminary Discourse to the Theodicy, section 45, Die Philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, VI, and Theodicy, tr. E. M. Huggard (London, 1951).
40. Causa Dei, section 144.
41. Theodicy, section 6.
42. NS, 10.
43. Discours sur la Théologie naturelle des Chinois, section 3, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Zwei Briefe über das binäre Zahlensystem und die chinesische Philosophie, ed. R. Loosen and F. Vonessen (Stuttgart, 1968), and Writings on China, ed. and tr. Daniel Cook and Henry Rosemont Jr. (Chicago, 1994).
44. Discours sur la Théologie naturelle des Chinois, section 3, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Zwei Briefe über das binäre Zahlensystem und die chinesische Philosophie, ed. R. Loosen and F. Vonessen (Stuttgart, 1968), and Writings on China, ed. and tr. Daniel Cook and Henry Rosemont Jr. (Chicago, 1994).
45. NS, 9.
46. Theodicy, 311.
47. Vorausedition, 1794-95.
48. Loemker, Philosophical Papers, 369.
49. Widmaier, Korespondiert mit China, 180.
50. E.g., ibid., 206.
51. A, I, 14, 72.
52. Ibid., 14, 72.
53. Ibid., 14, 72.
54. A letter to René-Henri De Crux De Monceaux written a month later supports this interpretation. René-Henri's letter to Leibniz referred to Leibniz's call for missionaries from China in the Novissima Sinica (4 October 1697; A, I, 14, 563). Leibniz quickly replied (4 October 1697; A, I, 14, 608-9) that in speaking against the various sects in Europe, he did not intend to speak against religion in general; it is only because of the sects that a natural theology must be brought from the Chinese. He then goes on to describe the wars and problems caused by religious division in Europe.
55. A letter to René-Henri De Crux De Monceaux written a month later supports this interpretation. René-Henri's letter to Leibniz referred to Leibniz's call for missionaries from China in the Novissima Sinica (4 October 1697; A, I, 14, 563). Leibniz quickly replied (4 October 1697; A, I, 14, 608-9) that in speaking against the various sects in Europe, he did not intend to speak against religion in general; it is only because of the sects that a natural theology must be brought from the Chinese. He then goes on to describe the wars and problems caused by religious division in Europe.
56. Die Werke von Leibniz, ed. Onno Klopp (Hannover, 1864-84), ix, 300.
57. Ibid., 301.
58. Die Werke von Leibniz, 302-3.
59. See Frankin Perkins, Comparing Reflections: Leibniz 's Theory of Cultural Exchange and his Writings on Chinese Philosophy (Ph.D. diss.; State College, Penn., 2000).
60. NS, 12.
61. See Julia Ching and Willard Oxtoby, Moral Enlightenment: Leibniz and Wolffon China (Nettetal, 1992).