Christian Wolff’s Reviews of His Own Books

Although Christian Wolff was an exceptionally prolific book reviewer and self-reviewer, this part of his output is largely unexplored. This chapter investigates Wolff’s philosophical and mathematical self-reviews to argue that, in spite of their adherence to the source works and lack of self-criticism, they offer valuable insights into his thought. In particular, the chapter aims to show that Wolff’s self-reviews may help us understand his intentions and strategies especially in that they complement, emphasize, or reformulate the information contained in the respective source works. The longest section focuses on Wolff’s Latin reviews of his German works, with special attention to the Latin rendition of his German metaphysical terminology. The self-translations Wolff performs in these cases – I will argue – are often revealing of his deepest philosophical concerns. The term “perception” is a case in point.