Christian Wolff

The German philosopher Christian Wolff (1679—1754) wrote on a wide range of subjects in philosophy.

Wolff is perhaps best known for his logical and mathematical approach to philosophy, hoping to make the law of noncontradiction a central principle of philosophical thought. Philosophy, for Wolff, was a study of the possible, and logic was the tool by which one explored its theoretical (metaphysical) and practical (political, ethical and economic) branches.

Wolff is partially responsible for beginning a scientific inquiry into economics.

Wolff’s philosophy is often considered to be a refined version of Leibniz’s thought, and remained the central philosophy of Germany until Kant.

Selected Works

• Philosophia rationalis, sive logica (1728)
• Philosophia prima, sive Ontologia (1730)
• Cosmologia generalis (1731)
• Psychologia empirica (1732)
• Psychologia rationalis (1734)
• Philosophia moralis (1750)