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Ideas of Christian Wolff, by Text

[German, 1679 - 1754, Born in Breslau. Taught at the Universities of Halle and Marburg.]

1730

works

	p.5	18241	Sufficient reason is implied by contradiction, of an insufficient possible which exists
			Full Idea: Wolff believed that the principle of sufficient reason could be derived from the principle of contradiction, for there would be a contradiction in the insufficiently determined existence of a merely possible thing.
			From: report of Christian Wolff (works [1730]) by Christine M. Korsgaard - Intro to Ethics, Politics, Religion in Kant 'A child'
			A reaction: Sounds as if he might be begging to question. You would only protest against the insufficient determination of something if you already believed in the principle of sufficient reason. Nice try.

	p.7	18242	Confucius shows that ethics can rest on reason, rather than on revelation
			Full Idea: Wolff claimed that the moral philosophy of Confucius shows that ethics is accessible to natural reason and independent of revelation.
			From: report of Christian Wolff (works [1730]) by Christine M. Korsgaard - Intro to Ethics, Politics, Religion in Kant 'A child'
			A reaction: Wolff was banished for proposing this idea.