Writings on China

Leibniz (1645 -1716) had a lifelong interest in things Chinese and accorded China an important role in his ecumenical endeavors. This collection of his writings presents his comparisons of Chinese and European civilizations and his thoughts on future relations between the two. Although Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is best known as a metaphysician, mathematician, and logician, he arguably used the word "China" in his voluminous writings and correspondence more often than those terms usually associated with him: "entelechies," "monads," "pre-established harmony," and so forth. If so, then his sustained writings on things Chinese -- especially on Chinese philosophy and religion -- should take their place alongside his other major works such as the Theodicy, Discourse on Metaphysics, Monadology, and the New Essays Concerning Human Understanding. His more detailed writings on China (as opposed to brief references to it, which he regularly made in his correspondence) can be roughly divided into two categories. The first is the letters he wrote to European -- usually Jesuit -- missionaries in China, or their peers in Europe. Especially is this true of his correspondence with Joachim Bouvet, one of the first French Jesuits to live in China, and whose letters to Leibniz clearly influenced the philosopher. -- Preface (page [xi]) Contains all four of Leibniz's detailed writings on China. He hoped to show that Chinese natural theology was compatible with his own philosophy, that his own philosophy was nothing but a refinement of Christian theology and that, therefore, Chinese and Christian thought were compatible.