Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical Exposition

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GERMAN PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICS
FOR
ENGLISH READERS AND STUDENTS.
EDITED BY
GEORGE S. MORRIS.
LEIBNIZ’S NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING
THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
LEIBNIZ’S
NEW ESSAYS CONCERNING THE
HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.
A CRITICAL EXPOSITION.
By JOHN DEWEY, Ph.D.,

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN, AND PROFESSOR (ELECT) OF MENTAL AND
MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF MINNESOTA
CHICAGO:
SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY
1902
Copyright, 1888,
By S. C. Griggs and Company.
PREFACE.
The purpose of the series of which the present volume is
one, is not, as will be seen by reference to the statement
in the initial volume, to sum up in toto the system of any
philosopher, but to give a “critical exposition” of some
one masterpiece. In treating the “Nouveaux Essais” of
Leibniz, I have found myself obliged, at times, to violate
the letter of this expressed intention, in order to fulfil
its spirit. The “Nouveaux Essais,” in spite of its being
one of the two most extended philosophical writings of
Leibniz, is a compendium of comments, rather than a
connected
argument
or
exposition.
It
has
all
the
suggestiveness and richness of a note-book, but with much
also of its fragmentariness. I have therefore been obliged
to supplement my account of it by constant references to
the other writings of Leibniz, and occasionally to take
considerable liberty with the order of the treatment of
topics. Upon the whole, this book will be found, I hope,
to be a faithful reflex not only of Leibniz’s thought, but

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