Author Description

This Monograph Offers A Fresh Account, In Unprecedented Detail, Of Philosophical Developments In German Philosophy In The First Half Of The 18th Century. At The Centre Of The Study Is Wolff's Seminal Text On Metaphysics, The Deutsche Metaphysik Of 1719. The Chapters That Comprise The First Part Of The Study Focus On The Interpretation Of Wolff's Text, Drawing Extensively On The Wider Intellectual Context And Wolff's Own Early Philosophical And Scientific Writings To Provide A New And Comprehensive Account Of Wolff's Metaphysics. The Second Part Turns To An Account Of The Impact Of Wolff's Text, Beginning With The Widely-overlooked Uptake Of His Philosophy Among Women Intellectuals. Wolff's Hostile Reception By His Pietist Colleagues Is Then Taken Up, In A Discussion That Goes Beyond An Acknowledgement Of The Historical Importance Of Pietism To Assert That The Figures In This Movement Actually Succeeded In Elaborating A Systematic, Coherent, And Compelling Philosophical Alternative To Wolffian Metaphysics. With All This In Place, In The Third Part Of The Study A Number Of Key Metaphysical Debates In The Aftermath Of The Controversy Between Wolff And The Pietists Are Considered, With The Aim Of Showing How These Two Opposed Intellectual Systems Served As The Indispensable Frame For Metaphysical Inquiry In Germany In The First Half Of The 18th Century-- Provided By Publisher.