Preface.

a drop of blood stirs in my body. From this impulse, these present thoughts on God, the world, and the soul of man, as well as on all things in general, original: "allen Dingen überhaupt." This refers to the branch of philosophy known as ontology, or the study of being and existence itself. come into the light of day. They shall now be followed, step-by-step in an unwavering sequence, by other works that set before our eyes the knowledge of the happiness The German Glückseeligkeit refers to a state of both earthly well-being and spiritual fulfillment, a central goal of Enlightenment philosophy. of the human race and the wondrous works of God in nature. In the subject matter I am now treating, there has been much darkness and disorder until now. There has been a lack of clear concepts, clear concepts: distinct ideas that allow one to recognize a thing and distinguish it from all others, a cornerstone of Wolff’s logical method thorough proofs, and the connection of truths with one another, so that many truths have even been taken for errors and rejected as contradicting others, which nevertheless not only their