Die philosophischen Schriften Vol. 2

...nizian original: "nizischen". This completes the name "Leibnizian" from the previous page. estate that has escaped destruction and is still found scattered in various places—even if it is already available in print—might be brought to public knowledge.

The present collection of the philosophical writings of Leibniz is intended to contain what has been printed so far as well as whatever his literary estate: the "Nachlaß" or collection of unpublished manuscripts and personal papers offers as worthy of publication, so far as it can be procured. It consists of two divisions: the first includes the philosophical correspondence, and the second includes the rest. It is well known that Leibniz maintained a very extensive correspondence and devoted quite special care to his letters. Not infrequently, several drafts of the same letter are found, as well as a transcript—often improved and expanded by additions—from which the final copy was eventually sent.

At the beginning of his scientific career, Leibniz sought to become known to the notabilities: famous or influential people of his time in this way; he presented his ideas to them in order to hear their judgment. It was also important to him to obtain knowledge as quickly as possible of what was being achieved by others, which at that time could only happen through this means, as scientific journals The first academic journals, such as the Journal des sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, only began publication in 1665. did not yet exist or were just emerging.

Later, particularly once he had taken up residence in Hannover, where he felt so scientifically isolated, his correspondence took the place of oral interaction. He, though a much-occupied man, sought to interest younger scholars in his ideas and to encourage them to carry them out; he turned to older scholars to win them over to his theories and to obtain a firmer ground for the justification of his assertions through discussion and objections. Leibniz repeatedly applied this latter procedure in the fields of philosophy and mathematics by treating scientific questions in dialogic form: a style of writing using a conversation between two or more people to explore a topic, a method in which he had practiced early on through the study of Platonic dialogues.