Abstract
From a historiographical point of view, the period from 1720 to 1750 is characterized by the writings of Brucker, whose works start with the Historia philosophica doctrinae de ideis (1723), followed by such large-scale works as the Kurtze Fragen aus der philosophischen Historie (1731–1736, 9 Vols.) and the Historia critica philosophiae (1742–1744, 5 Vols.). In parallel to these truly impressive books various textbooks of philosophy appeared, compiled with more modest intentions; in these, historiographical research gave up any claim to erudition and adapted itself to didactic requirements, to serve as a means of orientation and study for students attending university courses in philosophy.
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Notes
- 1.
The difference in method between Wolff and the followers of Thomasius is pointed out by Zambelli, La formazione filosofica, p. 414; she cites a passage from the Preface to the Logica which shows clearly the polemic against eclecticism because of its lack of methodological rigour: “However, the freedom to philosophize introduced a superficial philosophy into the schools”. Merker concluded that Wolff’s German writings were not far from Thomasius’s programme, in their common aspiration for a philosophy orientated toward practice; cf. Merker, L’illuminismo tedesco, p. 134.
- 2.
There was widespread interest in the Chinese in Europe, thanks mainly to the Jesuits, who had opened a number of missions in China in the seventeenth century. The literature on the subject that appeared between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century is truly impressive. Leibniz himself was interested in the Chinese (Novissima Sinica historia, 1687); Heumann translated into German the work of Eusèbe Renaudot, “Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine”, in Heumann, II, pp. 717–786. The moral philosophy of the Chinese was particularly appreciated; cf G.B. Bilfinger, Specimen doctrinae veterum Sinarum moralis et politica (Frankfurt, 1724). There is a full survey of writings on the Chinese of this period in Struve, I, pp. 170–176.
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Longo, M. (2010). Text Books on the History of Philosophy from Heumann to Brucker. In: Santinello, G., Piaia, G. (eds) Models of the History of Philosophy. International Archives of the History of Ideas / Archives internationales d'histoire des idées. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9507-7_7
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