Wolff's "Rational Thoughts"

Many historians of philosophy have described Wolff as one of the most influential philosophers of his time, without, however, paying much attention to his ideas. He has been called "the master of the Enlightenment in Germany," and even outside Germany; Diderot sang Wolff's praises in his Encyclopédie . Paul Hazard made Wolff "the intellectual leader of Germany" and a general-purpose sage admired by all nations. Lewis White Beck portrays Wolff as a rationalist in the Enlightenment spirit: "Wolff is the best German representative of a general movement of thought towards deism, utilitarianism and free thought that was sweeping over Europe as a whole."^[7]

These characterizations of Wolff and his influence claim both too much and too little. Too much, because terms like "rationalism" and "mathematics" did not necessarily imply Enlightenment, nor did Wolff's philosophy. It was the form of mathematics that interested him, its way of pursuing an argument to its proof. The characterizations claim too little because the association of Wolff's brand of rationalization with the Enlightenment neglects the vast effort at systematization of all knowledge inherited from Leibniz and the 17th century.

[7] Paul Hazard, European thought in the eighteenth century (London: Hollis, 1954), 40; Lewis White Beck, Early German philosophy: Kant and his predecessors (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1969), 256–76. Cf. Tore Frängsmyr, "Christian Wolff's mathematical method and its impact on the eighteenth century," Journal of the history of ideas , 36 (1975), 863–8.

Wolff turned to the connection between mathematics and philosophy early in his career. He obtained his doctorate in 1703 with a dissertation on ethics based on mathematical foundations. He soon came into contact with Leibniz, who nominated him for election to the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. In 1707 Wolff became professor of mathematics at Halle and later assumed the chair of philosophy. In Wolff's work the one subject cannot be distinguished from the other. As a mathematician he hardly made an original contribution, but his diligence yielded bulky volumes summarizing the contemporary state of knowledge—for instance, his Anfangsgründe aller mathematischen Wissenschaften (6 vols., 1710) and Elementa matheseos universae (5 vols., 1713–5).

Wolff announced his own particular specialty—the application of mathematics to philosophy—in his Ratio praelectionum Wolfianarum in mathesin et philosophiam universam (1718). This line of work culminated in a book in German with the monumental title Vernünfftige Gedancken von Gott, der Welt und der Seele des Menschen, auch allen Dingen überhaupt (1720). The book, usually known as his "German metaphysics," sets out Wolff's philosophy virtually in its entirety; it brought him wider renown and prefigured a whole literary genre during the 18th century. Wolff himself published a series of Vernünfftige Gedancken on various topics; elsewhere philosophers followed his lead and published "rational thoughts" on one subject after another.^[8]

Wolff's stature as a liberal theologian has also contributed to his reputation as a rationalist philosopher of the Enlightenment. In Halle, the dominant theology was the conservative strain of Pietism developed by August Hermann Francke, which sought renewal within the Church. Competition came from influential orthodox

[8] Hans Werner Arndt, "Rationalismus und Empirismus in der Erkenntnislehre," in Werner Schneider, ed., Christian Wolff, 1679–1754: Interpretationen zur seiner Philosophie und deren Wirkung (Hamburg: F. Meiner, 1983), 31–47. The same collection contains six articles about Wolff's influence, among them Notker Hammerstein, "Christian Wolff und die Universitäten: Zur Wirkungsgeschichte des Wolffinanismus im 18. Jahrhundert," 266–77. See also Beck's chapter "A generation of epigoni," in Early German philosophy , 276–305, and Tore Frängsmyr, Wolffianismens genombrott i Uppsala (Universitet; Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1972), with an English summary: "The emergence of Wolffianism at Uppsala University, 1720–1760."

pastors and from a group of "transitional theologians," who attempted the feat of mixing orthodoxy, Pietism, and rationalism.

Wolff found himself at odds with this eclectic combination. In 1721 he delivered a formal address on the teaching of Confucius, Oratio de sinarum philosophia practica , which emphasized its strict morality.^[9] By studying human nature, but without invoking divine revelation, Confucius had attained a lofty moral position. From this Wolff argued that morality could be comprehended by reason alone. Here he linked up with the deism that had been spreading steadily since the mid-17th century and that often saw in Confucianism the confirmation of its ideas. Wolff's address contained nothing new or sensational, but under the circumstances it was taken as a challenge. The Pietists retaliated by accusing Wolff of atheism; condemnatory sermons echoed in the churches and protests ascended to higher levels; the highly regarded theologian Johann Franz Buddeus, orthodox but favorably disposed to the Pietists, wrote an indictment of Wolff's views. The campaign finally succeeded in 1723, when Frederik Wilhelm I banished Wolff from Halle. Wolff retreated to Marburg, a little university town in the landgraviate of Hessen, an environment more conducive to his reputation. Within a few years he was being hailed as the greatest mathematician and philosopher of his age; students on their grand tours included a stop in Marburg to attend his lectures; scientific academies and universities throughout Europe wooed him. He began to write in Latin, which permitted access to a wider international audience. The 1730s saw the appearance of the great classical works, Philosophia prima sive ontologia (1730), Cosmologia generalis (1731), Psychologia empirica (1732), Psychologia rationalis (1734), Theologia naturalis (2 vols., 1736–7), and Philosophia practica universalis (2 vols., 1738–9). Again, they contained little new, but developed and refined Wolff's ideas in different philosophical disciplines and generated popularity, renown, and followers for their author.^[10]

[9] Wolff's Oratio de sinarum philosophia is now published in a Latin-German parallel edition, Rede über die praktische Philosophie der Chinesen , ed. Michael Albrecht (Hamburg: Meiner, 1985), with a 100-page introduction. See also Beck, Early German philosophy , 258ff.

[10] Anton Bissinger, Die Struktur der Gotteserkenntnis (Bonn: H. Bouvier, 1970).

Wolff's reputation as a rationalist and freethinker derived more from his banishment than from his writings. His position was enhanced when Frederick the Great ascended the throne of Prussia and decreed that salvation was everyone's responsibility. One of Frederick's first acts was to recall Wolff to Halle and to shower him with honors. Wolff assumed positions as professor of law, vice-chancellor of the university, privy councillor, and, in three years, chancellor. In 1745 he was ennobled as baron von Wolff. The summons from Frederick the Great, prince of Enlightenment, confirmed Wolff's status as an Enlightenment philosopher.