Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Praefatio ad libellum elementorum physicae

Abstract

Between the late winter of 1678 and the early summer of 1679, Leibniz planned to write a book on physics, for which he drafted notes and, as is often the case with him, synthetic outlines of its content. The text whose translation we present here was intended to provide a general introduction to this work, which ultimately did not take place. With this purpose, Leibniz provides us with an unvaluable synthesis of the views he held at that time on the aims, methods, and foundations of natural science in general and physics in particular. In this way, Leibniz covers a broad spectrum of issues ranging from the aims and utility of scientific research, through a classification of the methods applied in it, to ultimately reaching the metaphysical foundation of science. In our introductory commentary, as well as in the notes, we have tried to show the strong interweaving of references that supports this Leibnizian program and the clear anticipation of positions that our author will develop in later texts, such as the introduction of substantial forms and the reconciliation of mechanism with teleology.