Essays on Theodicy

Character of Erhard Weigel, his Master who was a Professor at Jena.

Weigel (a) was regarded as one of the great Mathematicians of his time, and the number of excellent Works he produced in this field shows well enough that he deserved a most honorable rank among them. He had pushed the most subtle and curious speculations of the various branches that compose Mathematics very far; but he did not stop there, and he always cultivated with at least equal care those aspects which are most useful to society. Better yet, he applied all his speculations to that end. It is from this source that so many clever mechanical inventions (b) emerged; it is to this principle that we must attribute all the pains he took to perfect Spheres and Telescope lenses. He was also one of the first who

(a) Erhard Weigel died in Jena in 1699 at the age of 74, laden with all the Titles that a man of Letters can hope for in Germany, and which he seems to have owed solely to his merit. One can see in the Lives of the Professors of Jena original: "Vies des Profeffeurs d'Jena", published in Latin by Mr. Zeumer in 1711, a complete Catalog of his works. In his Tetractys original: "Tetractis"; a work exploring number systems printed in 1673 in quarto A book size where each sheet is folded twice to create four leaves., he reduces Digits to four, instead of the ten we use A base-4 numeral system, a precursor to Leibniz's own work on binary (base-2).. The first edition is from 1647, and the second from 1688 in octavo A book size where each sheet is folded three times to create eight leaves.. His Specimens of Mathematical Inventions original: "Specimina Inventionum Mathematicarum" which date from 1669 in quarto, contain many curiosities from which Mr. Leibniz drew great benefit. I beg the curious Reader to examine this Note deeply, and not to believe I make it through a ridiculous display of a common kind of erudition. I think only of being concise, and of suppressing a great number of things that would be easy for me to point out in the course of this Life.

(b) See the Essays on Theodicy original: "Effais de Théodicée"; Leibniz's philosophical work justifying the goodness of God in an imperfect world., Volume 2, page 235.