The spread of Lockean writings in Early Enlightenment Germany. Space and time in John Locke and Christian Wolff

Abstract

German historiography of the 19th century tends to assign Wolff the place of a secondary philosopher, a systematizer of Leibnizian studies. However, Leibniz is just one of many figures who influenced Wolff’s philosophy, especially in the early stages of his intellectual career. The article shows that Wolff was greatly influenced by his communication with British thinkers such as Clarke, Locke, Newton, as well as with French and Dutch philosophers, which manifested itself in his numerous reviews and essays published in the scientific journal Acta eruditorum. Using the example of John Locke, the article shows the process of spreading the ideas of English thinkers during the early Enlightenment among German philosophers. The main translations of Locke’s writings, which influenced the intellectual discussion (in particular, on Wolff) in Germany during the Enlightenment era, are also indicated. Wolff’s ideas about space and time are mainly presented, and using these concepts as an example, the main points of the German thinker’s polemic with intellectual opponents at different poles of the Leibnizian-Newtonian conflict are demonstrated.