The Principles of Nature and of Grace, Based on Reason

Abstract

The popular reception of Leibniz’s Theodicy had the effect of establishing his reputation in even wider circles than before, and much of his last philosophical writing was done for this wider audience rather than for his scholarly correspondents and the readers of scientific journals. The circumstances and motives in writing the two best known of these works, Nos. 66 and 67 (the so-called ‘Monadology’), are not clear. Both were written in Vienna in 1714. The Principles of Nature and of Grace was a popular introduction to his philosophy of nature and his metaphysics, written for Prince Eugene of Savoy, a copy of which was also sent, however, to Nicolas Remond and his circle in Paris; both facts are established in the correspondence with Remond in the same and the following year (G., III, 624, 629, 631, 633–34). The purpose of the Monadology is less clear; according to one careful study, it was begun for Remond somewhat earlier than the Principles, but finished later, and aimed to be a more careful clarification of Leibniz’s principles for his followers.¹In any case, though the Monadology is the more complete, the papers have much in common, both in what they include and in what they omit.