DEDICATION.

might lay open unshaken; so, following his example, I have gathered into a similar System Wolff uses the word "System" (original: Systema) to describe a body of knowledge where every proposition is logically derived from first principles, much like a mathematical proof. the first principles of all human knowledge—including even those principles from which EUCLID The Greek mathematician Euclid (c. 300 BCE), whose work Elements set the standard for logical rigor and deductive reasoning in Western thought. borrowed the evidence for his own works—the manifold and perhaps unexpected utility of which I shall demonstrate hereafter. This System, therefore, which contains the foundations of every science, even of mathematics itself, I lay at the feet of YOUR MAJESTY with a most humble and reverent mind, so that I might honor Your favorable disposition toward science with this public act of devotion. May God preserve You,