Rational Thoughts on the Powers of Human Understanding (German Logic)

Preface ###

reflection learned to recognize; I would serve few of my fellow Germans, as to most of them it would soon seem like whims original: Grillen; literally "crickets," a common 18th-century idiom for idle fancies, melancholy, or capricious thoughts that distract the mind if they were required to keep their thoughts together for a bit too long; and it would also not be suitable for beginners, for whose sake I have entrusted the present thoughts to the press. And this is precisely one of the reasons why I have written it in German, whereas among foreigners there are many who place great value on thorough knowledge: for their sake, on another occasion, something more complete on this matter shall be shared in the Latin language, just as I allowed more theoretical matters theoretica; referring to the abstract or speculative principles of a science as opposed to its practical application to flow into the Latin edition of my Principles of Mathematics Elementorum Matheseos; the Latin title of Wolff’s foundational work Elements of Mathematics than was permitted to enter the German one. I can assure from my experience that the given rules serve me well, whether I am to judge something already discovered or am to bring something forth through my own reflection. I also do not doubt that others [will] find the same—