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LIST 217 - PHILOSOPHY.
The Soul examined
81ULLOA, Juan de. DE ANIMA DISPUTATIONES QUATUOR. Natura illius, proprietates, modus operandi, vitalesque operationes, tum physicae, tum intentionales, tum intellectus, tum voluntatis exponuntur, cum utrarumque multiplicitate, atque mutua differentia. Rome, Typis Jo: Francisci Chracas, 1715. £ 450
FIRST EDITION. 4to, [viii], 547, [1] errata, woodcut vignette on title; fresh and clean in contemporary vellum, bound in the French-speaking Low Countries, spine ornamented and lettered in gilt.
Rare first edition of this philosophical and theological work on all aspects of the concept of the soul, written by the Spanish Jesuit philosopher Juan de Ulloa (1639-c. 1725), who was born in Madrid and sent by his superiors to Rome. He speculates on the immortality of the soul, the instinct and feelings of animals, sensations, moral judgement, faith, superstition and free will. Despite the speculative nature of the subject dealt with in this work there is a good index at the end.
Bound in before is an incomplete copy of Ulloa’s Physica Speculativa of 1713, which is lacking the second gathering of preliminaries.
Sommervogel VIII, col. 341, 6; OCLC locates copies in Munich, the National Library of Chile and at Maastricht University only.
Catholic psychology
82VALLETTA,Nicolai.DE ANIMI VIRTUTE Ethices Syntagma. Neapoli, Excudebat Raymundius. 1772.
£ 385
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xiv], 125, [1] blank; some very light minor foxing, otherwise a clean, crisp copy throughout; in contemporary floral patterned boards, minor dust-soiling, but not detracting from this being a handsome and appealing copy.
First edition of this rare philosophical essay by the Naples philosopher, and professor of civil law at the city’s university, Nicola Valletta (1740-1814).
The work is divided into two parts, dealing roughly with psychology and with ethics. In the first, Valletta discusses the nature of the human mind, examining the power of imagination, human temprament, and the passions of the soul; he then turns in the second part to a discussion of the nature of human laws, the powers of the soul, and the virtues, particularly piety, temperance, and justice. Throughout, Valletta seeks to emphasise the values of the Catholic Church, citing both Aristotle and the Church fathers throughout.
Best known for his Cicalata sul fascino volgarmente detto jettatura, Valletta wrote a number of works on various subjects, including canon law, as well as publishing a volume of Canzonetti. He is also notable for his proposed reforms of the University of Naples.
Not in OCLC.
83[VERRI, Pietro]. IDEE SULL’ INDOLE DEL PIACERE. Milano, appresso Giuseppe Galeazzi,
Regio Stampatore. MDCCLXXIV [ 1774].£ 300
SECOND EDITION. 8vo, pp. 100 (the first leaf blank), woodcut vignette on title; very minor stain just visible at foot in
places, otherwise clean throughout; in recent mottled wrappers; contemporary biographical note in ink on initial blank.
First puiblished in Livorno in 1773 this rare work on pleasure is a philosophical investigation of the human nature, which can be characterized as trying to avoid pain and seeking pleasure, an almost ‘behaviourist’ approach to anthropology. The Milanese economist, historian and philosopher Pietro Verri (1728-1797) was an admirer of Hume and part of a group of enlightened intellectuals in Lombardy, which included Leopardi, Frisi, and Beccaria. Verri’s main thesis, that pleasure is the interruption of pain as the underlying human condition, was appreciated by Kant (a German edition appeared in 1777), can be found in Leopardi’s works, and later formed one of the cornerstones of Schopenhauer’s Weltanschauung.
OCLC records just two copies only, at Johns Hopkins and Göttingen; Yale holds the first, Livorno edition.
84[VICO].BOUVY,Eugene.DE VICO CARTESII ADVERSARIO. Thesim Proponebat Facultati Litterarum Parisiensi ... Paris, Librairie Hachette et Cie., 1889. £ 75
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 67, [1] blank, [1] index, [1] blank; evenly browned throughout due to paper stock; uncut and entirely unopened in the original printed publisher’s wraps, edge of wrapper brittle resulting in some loss, and a tear to the lower wrapper, nevertheless, still a good copy.
First edition of Bouvy’s doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, examining Vico’s and Descartes’ contrary philosophical positions, and especially Vico’s criticism of the Carthesian philosophy, which he had dismantled in his De antiquissima Italorum sapientia.
Croce p. 79; OCLC records four copies only, at Alberta, Columbia, Texas (Austin) and the University of Notre Dame, with one further copy recorded at Göttingen.
The History of Civilisation
85VICO, Giambattista. PRINCIPJ DI UNA SCIENZA NUOVA intorno alla natura delle nazioni per la quale si ritruovano i principj di altro sistema del diritto naturale delle genti ... Naples, Felice Mosca, 1725.£65,000
FIRST EDITION. 12mo, pp. 270, [12]; with woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces; lines 11-13 on the licence leaf (M8v) corrected with a pasted-over slip, scattered contemporary (authorial?) manuscript additions throughout, largely in the margins, the odd word underlined; a couple of small holes and a light marginal waterstain to the final leaf, which has been guarded, presumably when the book was rebound; a very good, uncut copy, lightly washed and rebound in old vellum.
Scarce first edition of Vico’s Principj di una Scienza Nuova. ‘The “Principles of a New Science regarding the Character of Nations” has justly been called “the vehicle by which the concept of historical development at last entered the thought of Western Europe”‘ (PMM).
‘Vico was of very humble parentage. He became a professor of rhetoric at Naples and Historiographer-Royal in 1735. Working in virtual isolation he laid the foundations of our modern concept of sociology. He boldly attacked the widely accepted theories of Descartes that mathematical proof was the one criterion of truth in every sphere of thought. Natural phenomena, he maintained, are the works of God; mathematics is an arbitrary human invention and there is no reason to suppose that God observes its principles.
Vico believed that a genuine if limited knowledge of the external world was possible to man and he did not despise the use of mathematical method; but the Cartesian idea that full and perfect knowledge of the universe awaited only the perfection of geometrical knowledge was quite unacceptable to him. Human knowledge of the universe could never be perfect, owing to the imperfection of our nature and our limited powers of observation. Only to God was perfect knowledge possible.
Again, in direct contrast to Descartes, Vico taught that our knowledge of history could approach much nearer to perfection than our knowledge of the phenomena treated by the natural philosophers. The past history of the human race, unlike the history of the physical universe, is due to the actions of creatures like ourselves. We can project our minds into theirs, and by patient record and interpretation we can reconstruct the series of cause and effect by which modern societies developed. Historical study of what man has done is as much entitled to the status of a science as is natural science ...
Vico was the first to recognize the importance of language, myth and tradition as a source for understanding the primitive stages of man’s history, before intellectual and historical consciousness developed. Poetry, for example, enshrines much early history, and historical facts can be deduced from philology.’ (ibid.).
Vico’s work had originally been conceived as a monumental ‘two quarto volumes’, to be printed in Florence at Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini’s expense. When Vico’s manuscript was presented to Corsini ready for publication, the prelate felt that he could not meet the printing expenses and declined his patronage. Vico, faced with the prospect of a self-financed publication (which may explain the poor quality paper) and forced to cut the Scienza Nuova down to a quarter of its original size, reorganised his material in a way that, in the end, seemed to him to be a demonstration more cogent than the initial version. One thousand copies were printed, plus twelve copies on fine paper, with large margins. Nicolini states that Vico signed, dedicated and annotated several copies before sending them off to friends and libraries. The extensiveness of the annotation varies from around two hundred (mostly typographical corrections) to just a few, recorded by Nicolini.
‘The concept of a history of human ideas, the principles of a universal history and its philosophical criticism, a recognition of the importance of social classes, all begin with Vico. Many twentieth-century notions of anthropology, comparative law, literature, religion and linguistic philosophy can be found in the pages of this book’ (PMM).
Croce I, p. 1; Nicolini, Bibliografia Vichiana, I, p. 37ff.; Nicolini, Opere, III, p. 335ff., PMM 184. ICCU lists four copies in Italian libraries, OCLC lists four copies: Harvard, Yale, University of Michigan, and Burndy Library, there is also a copy at the British Library; no copy recorded on ABPC.
86VICO, Giovanni Battista. PRINCIPES DE LA PHILOSOPHIE DE L’HISTOIRE Traduits de la Scienza Nuova de J.B. Vico, et précédés d’un discours sur le système et la vie de l’auteur, par Jules Michelet ... A Paris, chez Jules Renouard, Libraire, Rue de Tournon, 1827.£ 500
FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH. 8vo, pp. viii, lxx, [ii], 392; light foxing in places throughout, but generally clean and crisp; in contemporary half morocco over mottled boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, some rubbing to extremities, but still a very good copy.
The first French translation of Vico’s Scienza Nuova - more than a century after its original publication. This translation is in fact an abridged version of the third edition of Vico’s works, which incorporated his final revisions and additions. The translation was prepared by the French historian Michelet (1798-1874). Probably no other intellectual of the 19th century was a more passionate proponent of Vico’s ideas and his theories of history.
The Principi di una Scienza Nuova has been justly called ‘the vehicle by which the concept of historical development at last entered the thought of western Europe’ (PMM 184). It remains one of the most influential treatises in the history of ideas. The concept of a history of human ideas, the principles of a universal history and its philosophical criticism, a recognition of the importance of social classes, all begin with Vico.
Vico founded no school and though his book was well-known in Italy during his lifetime, his achievement met with little success and understanding until the nineteenth century, when the German Romantics turned to his ideas. Herder, Goethe, Hegel and later Spengler took up his contributions to historical philosophy and method, and through them he greatly influenced modern historical and sociological research, though often unacknowledged. Sir Herbert Read sums this up in the statement ‘Vico is probably the most unacknowledged source of ideas in the history of philosophy’.
Croce p. 5; see Printing & the Mind of Man 184 for the first edition. Overlooked by Croce
87[VICO]. JANNELLI, Cataldo. CENNI ... Sulla Natura e Necessita della Scienza delle cose e delle storie umane con cenni sui limiti e sulla direzione degli studj storici di Gian Domenico Romagnosi e discorso e analoga appendice sul sistema e sulla vita di Vico del Professore Giulio Michelet. Milano, per Antonio Fontana. 1832.£ 175
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. xciv, [ii], 228; minor stain just visible in places, but generally clean throughout; uncut in the original printed publisher’s wraps, spine darkened and wrappers lightly dust-soiled, upper wrapper with ‘Fil’ written in biro in centre, nevertheless still a good copy.
This rare publication unites Gian Domenico Romagnosi’s essay on the limits and aims of historiography (up to p. xix), which is strongly influenced by Vico, with a translation of Jules Michelet’s essay on Vico’s life and thought, and an appendix containing a bio-bibliography of Vico. This is the first Italian edition of Michelet’s 1827 groundbreaking Discours sur le système et la vie de Vico, not discovered by the bibliographer Croce, who on p. 62 claims that the first Italian translation appeared in the 1834 Opere of Vico. The 228 pages contain Cataldo Jannelli’s theory of history, one of the earliest serious studies of Vico. This had been published first in 1817, in Naples, and is extremely hard to find. Cataldo Jannelli (1781-1841) was an historian and an early sociologist, and the present work, which had been published first in Naples in 1817, is a fundamental text for the Italian 19th-century school of historians, called istoricismo, a term which later in the century generally stood for Vico’s approach to historical periods.
The philosopher, economist and jurist Gian Domenico Romagnosi (1761-1835) considered Janelli’s text worthy of republication, together with Michelet’s work on Vico and with his long introductory essay.
Romagnosi is further renowned for the discovery of a causal relation between electricity and magnetism, almost two decades before Orsted.
See Croce p. 55, mentioning the re-edition of Janelli’s book; OCLC locates copies at Harvard, Yale, Duke University, University of Chicago and New York Public Library.
88VIGUIÉ, Ariste. LE POSITIVISME MATÉRIALISTE. Nimes, de l’imprimerie Clavel-Baliivet, 1867. £ 250
OFFPRINT. 8vo, pp. 27, [1] blank; clean and fresh throughout; in the original printed wrappers, with presentation inscription from the author on upper cover.
An attractive presentation copy of this rare essay on positivism by the theologian, historian and anthropologist Ariste Viguié (1827-1890), written as a response to and review of the first French translation of Jacob Moleschott’s Der Kreislauf des Lebens, and which first appeared in the Mémoires de l’Académie du Gard.
Moleschott argued in his work that all vital phenomena can be explained as a perpetual circulation of matter from the inorganic world to the organic and back, and was set strongly against Liebig’s Chemische Briefe. In the present review, Viguié praises the French translation by Cazelles, which had appeared the previous year, and which found its way into Darwin’s library, while expanding on and clarifying some of Moleschott’s views, and arguing against any compatibility between science and faith.
Not in OCLC.
Non-academic Logic
89VILLAUME, Peter. PRACTISCHE LOGIK FÜR JUNGE LEUTE die nicht studiren wollen. Berlin und Libau, bey Lagarde und Friedrich, 1787.£ 850
FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo, pp. xvi, 344; a crisp, clean copy in contemporary sprinkled boards, contrasting gilt label to the spine, extremities a little rubbed; a very attractive copy.
Rare first edition of a very early example of a work on logic written in German (a pirated edition bearing the indicative Frankfurt/Leipzig imprint appeared in the same year). Intended in part for use in the classroom, Villaume presents a pragmatic view of logic for a lay readership, conscientiously avoiding the arcane formalism of contemporary scholars. Central to this approach is the belief that a scrupulously sceptical approach to ‘truth’ could provide practical benefits to people who, through choice or circumstance, had not attended university. Conversely, Villaume suggests that the strict formalism of bookish scholars was an unlikely route to any useful practical application: ‘Meiner Beobachtung nach sind wenige Gelehrte, die von den figuris & modis syllogismorum und von barbara, celarent &c. vielen Nutzen ziehen’ (Foreword).
Peter von Villaume (1746-1806) was a clergyman who gained fame as a progressive educationalist, ultimately becoming ‘Professor der Moral und schönen Wissenschaften’ at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium. Together with his wife, he founded an educational institute for women (a description of which was published in 1780). His views on the benefits of physical exercise attracted the attention of educational reformer Christian Salzmann, who visited Villaume in 1783.
OCLC locates two copies, in Göttingen and Texas Tech University.
90VILLETERQUE, Alexandre-Louis de. LES VEILLÉES PHILOSOPHIQUES, ou Essais sur la morale expérimentale et la physique systématique. ... Tome Premier [- Second]. A Paris, Chez Fuchs, L’an troisième [ 1795].£ 550
FIRST EDITION. Two volumes, 8vo, pp. xvi, 17-390; 391, [1] advertisments, [1] blank; some spotting throughout; in contemporary carta rustic boards, orange paper labels on spine, lettered in ink.
First edition of one of the main works of the journalist, playwright, and translator Alexandre-Louis de Villeterque (1759-1811), a collection of “essays on experimental ethics and systematic physics”, dedicated to Socrates.
Villeterque’s aim is to establish a set of moral principles based on human nature, and to refute a number of paradoxes that lie at the heart of Rousseau’s moral philosophy, by which Villeterque is otherwise much influenced. He argues that happiness can only be attained through the accomplishment of one’s duties; and that duties ultimately arise out of self love (not to be confused with self-interest). These ideas are elaborated over a series of eight dialogues between the author and “Fatalita”, a character who had earlier appeared in Villeterque’s Veillées d’un malade.
OCLC records North American copies at Arizona, Berkeley, UC Irvine, Washington, and Stony Brook.
A Refutation of Newton
91[VOLTAIRE]. BANIÈRES, Jean. EXAMEN ET RÉFUTATION DES ELEMENS DE LA PHILOSOPHIE DE NEUTON DE M. DE VOLTAIRE, Avec une Dissertation sur la Réflexion & la Réfraction de la Lumiere... A Paris, rue S. Jacques. Chez Lambert & Durand. 1739.£ 550
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [iv], xcviij, [10], 308, [4]; with five folded engraved plates, and five attractive engraved head-piece vignettes; some light spotting and browning throughout, with minor marginal dampstain affecting upper edge of final few leaves; in contemporary calf, spine in compartments with raised bands, lettered and decoratively tooled in gilt, head of spine chipped, upper joint cracked at tail, some minor worming to spine, particularly affecting lower cord which is exposed, corners lightly bumped and rubbed; still a good, crisp copy.
Attractively illustrated response to Voltaire’s immensely popular account of Newtonian philosophy, the Elemens de la philosophie de Neuton, first published in 1738.
The Elemens, without a doubt, constitutes the single most important contribution to the dissemination of Newton’s philosophy through continental Europe. Not all, however, were to be convinced, and the present work, by the Cartesian philosopher Jean Banières (b.1700), takes exception, sometime quite forcefully, to Voltaire’s rejection of Descartes’ principles and methods in favour of those of the Englishman.
After an initial dissertation on the reflection and refraction of light, Banières follows the structure of Voltaire’s own work, adopting Voltaire’s chapter headings throughout, as he seeks to refute Newton’s accounts of light and its various properties, preferring to present an atomist theory of light to Newton’s own rather arbitrary theory. Of particular note is Banières’ identification of the seven primary colours with the seven musical tones.
Gray 44; Wallis 44; OCLC: 14716834.
92VOLTAIRE, Francois Marie Arouet de. DIE PHILOSOPHIE DER GESCHICHTE des verstorbenen Herrn Abtes Bazin uebersetzt und mit Anmerkungen begleitet von Johann Jakob Harder ... Leipzig, verlegts Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Buchhändler zu Riga und Mietau. 1768. £ 1,125
FIRST GERMAN TRANSLATION. 8vo, pp. [xii], 442; very light browning to margins of prelims and last few leaves (due to offsetting), otherwise a clean copy throughout; contemporary half sheep over mottled boards, spine lettered, ruled and stamped in gilt (slightly scuffed resulting in some loss of gilt), light rubbing to extremities; a very good copy.
Rare first German translation of Voltaire’s Philosophy of History, by Johann Jakob Harder, which appeared some three years after the first French edition.
Voltaire’s direct influence on the social sciences was probably greatest in the field of historical writing. His philosophy of history was distinctly ethical and humanistic, and he was far more interested in the underlying traits of historical developments than in a large collection of individual facts. In his Philosophie de l’Histoire which was later included as a Discours préliminaire to his Essai sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations, the first universal history of man, he gives a general view of the peoples and civilization of antiquity that reach far beyond the Hebrew and Greek origins of Occidental cultures. The work is dominated by his conviction that the Hebrew religion had passed on superstition, bigotry and fanaticism to the Christians, whose own religion (according to Bayle) had caused more wars and shed more blood than any other.
The translator seems to have published little else other than a translation of Pope’s Essay on Man, which appeared in 1772. The present translation is copiously and extensively annotated by Harder, who says in his preface, “This Philosophy of History is a text about which much can be said by the Deist as much as by the Christian. Is it then any wonder that I have so much to say in some annotations?”, noting that he has corrected quotations, filled out allusions in Voltaire’s text, and made note of factual errors.
Not in Bengesco, BN (Voltaire Catalogue) or OCLC.
93WARREN, Albertus. AN APOLOGY FOR THE DISCOURSE OF HUMANE REASON, Written by Ma. Clifford, Esq; Being a Reply to Plain Dealing. With the Author’s Epitaph and Character. London, Printed for Walter Davis in Amen Corner, 1680.£ 950
FIRST EDITION. pp. [xxiv], 144; apart from some minor light foxing in places, a clean copy throughout; in contemporary sheep, binding lightly rubbed, but still an appealing copy; with armorial bookplate of the Earl of Macclesfield with their blindstamp on title and first page of the prelims; an appealing copy.
Scarce first edition of Albertus Warren’s defence of Martin Clifford’s major work, A Treatise of Humane Reason, which advocated the private conscience as the judge of religion and stirred up a ten-year controversy.
Martin Clifford (1624-1677) was Master of the Charterhouse, who in 1674 had published A Treatise on Humane Reason, a work which was later translated into French, and which caused a considerable controversy (see G. Tarantino, Martin Clifford, 1624-1677: deismo e tolleranza nell’Inghilterra della Restaurazione, Florence, 2000). Marvell’s Plain Dealing was published in 1675, and is reprinted in Margoliouth. The present work by Warren is dedicated to the earl of Shaftesbury, who had been instrumental in getting Clifford’s salary at the Charterhouse increased, and is intended as a riposte to Plain Dealing.
“The only defence of Clifford’s [work] which I have been able to find is a book called An Apology for the Discourse of Humane Reason, published anonymously but written by a friend of Clifford’s named Albertus Warren, a devout admirer - and one of the few admirers - of Thomas Hobbes. Warren had written the Apology in 1677-1678. ... Why Albertus Warren failed to publish in 1678 what he had written on behalf of Clifford, is any man’s guess but there was a cogent reason for its publication in 1680, for by that time Shaftesbury was exerting all of his astonishing energies to bring dissention to a climax” (Edward Hooker, ‘Dryden and the Atoms of Epicurus’, ELH 24, 1957, 181-2).
Wing W950; OCLC: 5742482 records copies at UCLA, Yale, Library of Congress, Iowa, Chicago, Cincinnati and North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
Against all philosophical Systems
94WEILLER, Kajetan. ANLEITUNG ZUR FREYEN ANSICHT DER PHILOSOPHIE. Zunächst für seine Zuhörer. München, bey Joseph Lentner, 1804.£ 385
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xvi], 431, [1] blank; some light foxing in places throughout, but otherwise fresh; in contemporary marbled boards with gilt-stamped lettering-piece; extremities a little worn; from the library of a Catholic school for pedagogues in Donauwörth/Bavaria with stamp of about 1900 on title, ms. shelfmark label on front cover.
First edition of this rare philosophical work by the Bavarian disciple of Jacobi, Kajetan von Weiller (1762- 1826).
Weiller’s starts with the statement that ‘philosophy is at the moment in a state of revolution, and what is always happening during revolutions is the case here as well. Passions partake more in the current of events than reason’ (p. 3). Weiller intends this work, which is complementary to his lectures, to inspire young people to think philosophically, to know about various philosophical systems, however without following them religiously. The work is divided into two parts, a ‘negativer Theil’ and a ‘positiver Theil,’ in which he contrasts old and new conceptions of the role, scope, and practice of philosophy. In the first part, Weiller discusses the previous course of philosophy. He starts by asking what philosophy is, and divides the subject into various classes, philosophical schools and systems, before expressing the hope that from the total philosophical relativism at the beginning of the 19th century which will inevitably lead to nihilism, a new kind of philosophy, which can be heartfelt and and not only rationally perceived will have to rise. Weiller refers to attempts by Schelling to reconcile feeling and sentiment with philosophy and explains that the philosophy of the future will seek the truth, which is not hidden any longer by the terminology of a rigid system.
OCLC records North American copies at McGill, Harvard, Columbia, and St Vincent College.
95WENZEL, Gottfried Immanuel. CANONIK DES VERSTANDES UND DER VERNUNFT. Ein Commentar über Immanuel Kants Logik. Wien, Im Verlage bey Anton Doll. 1801.£ 450
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. xviii, 366; occasaional browning in places, but largely clean throughout, with ink library shelfmark on verso of title, showing through to recto; in later pinkish marbled boards, with original label on spine.
First edition of this introduction to Kantian logic by the important Austrian philosopher Gottfried Immanuel Wenzel (1754-1809).
The body of the book is divided into ten chapters, which deal with the nature and history of logic, the differences between intuitive and discursive understanding, the nature of concepts, relations and qualities, modality, and probability; there then follow two extensive sections in which Wenzel gives a general theory of philosophical method, paying particular attention to the logical construction of concepts and the nature of definition. While clearly influenced by Kant, Wenzel also draws on Leibnitz and Schelling, among others.
Wenzel was the author not just of philosophical works but of plays, books on diet and regimen, and a study of monism. At the time the present work was published, he was professor of logic, metaphysics and moral philosophy at Linz.
OCLC records three copies outside Germany, at UCSD, Columbia, and Glasgow.
The seeds of the Philosophical Investigations?
96[WITTGENSTEIN].SCHLICK, Moritz.CORRESPONDENCE WITH LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN 1923-1927 £ 5,500
An important collection of letters and cards from the Viennese philosopher, and founder of the Vienna Circle Moritz Schlick to Wittgenstein, written in the period immediately after the publication of the Tractatus, while Wittgenstein, having come to the conclusion that he had said all that could be said about philosophy, was teaching in primary schools, and later working in a monastery garden.
The first item in the correspondence is an invitation card for a meeting of the Vienna Circle on June 24, 1923. Although Wittgenstein did not take up the offer, Schlick wrote again to him on Christmas Day of the following year:
“ Asanadmirer of your tractatus logico-philosophicus, I have long had the intention of making your acquaintance....Every winter semester in the Philosophical Institute, I am responsible for arranging meetings between colleagues and gifted students who are interested in the foundations of logic and mathematics, and your name is often mentioned in this circle, especially since my colleague, the mathematician Prof. Reidemeister, gave a talk reporting on your work, which made a great impression on all of us. There are now a number of people here - I count myself among them - who are convinced of the importance and correctness of your basic ideas, and we have the fervent wish to assist in the dissemination of your views.” In addition, he asks Wittgenstein to find for him a copy of the Tractatus, as the Vienna Circle only had access to one copy.
Schlick’s attempt to meet Wittgenstein was initially unsuccessful, although the two men did correspond sporadically. Wittgenstein did eventually begin to meet with Schlick and others including Friedrich Waismann and F.P. Ramsey. The handwritten letter in the present collection, dated August 15, 1927, contains a report of some of Ramsey’s thoughts on logical notation, and announces a forthcoming visit to Vienna, while the final, typewritten letter, dated October 2 of the same year, announces Schlick’s forthcoming visit to England to see Ramsey, and promises that Schlick will not talk science with Wittgenstein when they meet on his return.
Although Wittgenstein’s reluctance to get involved in the Vienna Circle, and his sense that Schlick and others had substantially misinterpreted his intentions in the Tractatus, are well documented, it remains the case that in Schlick he found a congenial interlocutor, and the acquaintance did much to reintroduce Wittgenstein to the philosophical world he had largely shunned since the publication of the Tractatus, and to bring him to a realisation of the flaws in his early work which ultimately led to the Philosophical Investigations.
97WITTICH, Christoph. DISSERTATIONES DUAE quarum prior De S. Scripturae in rebus Philosophicis abusu, examinur, I. An Physicae genuinum Principium sit Scriptura? 2. An haec de rebus naturalibus loquens accuratam semper veritatem, an potius sensum & opinionem vulgi saepius sequatur? Altera Dispositionem & Ordinem totius universi & principalium ejus corporum tradit, sententiamque Nobilissimi Cartesii, de vera Quiete & Vero motu Terrae defendit ... Amstelodamii, Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, MDLIII [ 1653].£ 750
FIRST EDITION. 12mo, pp. [xvi], 306; some light spotting and foxing throughout; with paper repair to title-page; in nineteenth-century calf-backed boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt; joints and corners worn, boards rubbed.
Rare first edition of these two extended essays by the Cartesian philosopher Christoph Wittich (1625-1687), written as part of his attempt to demonstrate the compatibility of modern Cartesian philosophy with Christian theology.
In the first dissertation, Wittich discusses the use and abuse of Scripture in natural philosophy; he argues that Scripture is specifically written in non-technical, easily understood language, rather than in the language of truth, which he characterises, in typically Cartesian fashion, as essentially clear and distinct.
The second dissertation presents a Copernican account of the universe, describing the situation of the earth, and its motion round the sun, and responding to Scriptural objections to this account. Among other authorities, Wittich cites Descartes and Tycho Brahe in support of his arguments.
Wittich was professor at Duisburg and Leiden, and is notable for his attempts to refute Spinozism and to reconcile modern philosophy with Christianity. His other works include Annotationes ad Renati Des-Cartes Meditationes (1688).
OCLC: 54555970 records only two copies, at Cambridge and Edinburgh.
98WOLFF, Christian. PSYCHOLOGIE ou Traité sur l’Ame, Contenant les Connoissances, que nous en donne l’Expérience... A Amsterdam, Chez Pierre Mortier. MDCCXLV [ 1745].£ 575
FIRST FRENCH EDITION. 8vo, pp. viii, 339, [1]; some browning throughout due to paper stock, but nonetheless crisp; in contemporary speckled calf, spine decorated in gilt with morocco label lettered in gilt; corners worn, discolouration to head of upper board, but a very handsome copy, with the book-plate of Gustave Chapon on front paste-down.
The first French edition of Psychologia Empirica (1732), the companion volume to Wolff’s Psychologia Rationnalis of 1734.
Wolff’s empirical psychology owes much to that of Thomasius, although his emphasis was much more on theory than on particular details. In essence, the psychology that he puts forward in the present work is a theory of will combined with an epistemology: Wolff discusses the existence of the soul, and the ways in which it can be known, the concepts of notions, sense, and the imagination, memory and forgetting, attention and reflection. He then examines in more detail the three operations of understanding: apprehension, judgement and reasoning.
“According to Wolff, empirical psychology studies the powers of the soul as they are discovered by inner sense. He distinguished two general fields of the soul - the cognitive powers and the will (which includes the feelings of pleasure and pain). As with Thomasius, the cognitive powers begin with the ‘inferior faculty’, or sensibility, because knowledge comes only from sensation” (Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Blake p. 494 listing 1756 edition; OCLC: 9637505 records only one US copy at Ohio, with OCLC: 45986588 citing two copies at Niedersachsen and Rand Afrikaans University, and OCLC: 33265611a further two copies at McMaster and Leeds.
99[WOLFF, Christian and Joachim LANGE]. NOUVELLES PIECES SUR LES ERREURS PRETENDUES DE LA PHILOSOPHIE DE MONS. WOLF, contenant I. Memoire de Mons. Lange, contre cette philosophie. II. Reponse preliminaire d’un auteur anonime a ce memoire. III. Sommaire de la reponse de Mr. Wolf meme avec un avis au lecteur de l’histoire de ce nouveau differend. [N.p.], 1736. £ 750
FIRST EDITION. Three parts in one volume, 8vo, pp. 104; some browning throughout, and worming to upper margin of first few leaves, not affecting text; in contemporary mottled boards; spine chipped at head and foot.
Rare first edition of this collection of pieces regarding the controversy which arose between Wolff and the pietist theologian Joachim Lange (1670-1744).
The collection consists of three works. The first, by Lange, is entitled “Brief account of the maxims of the philosophy of Wolff, prejudicial to natural and revealed religion, even abolishing it entirely and leading, although under several masks, straight to atheism”, and identifies a number of fundamental errors in Wolff’s philosophy, quoting extensively from Wolff’s work, and identifying Wolff’s philosophy with Spinozism and fatalism.
The second part is a response to Lange’s criticisms, according to the title by “un ami de Monsr. Wolf”, but actually by Wolff himself. Wolff takes each of Lange’s points and attempts to refute them, citing Leibniz in his defence; this is followed by a second response, this time in Wolff’s own name, which addresses Lange more broadly, in the context of the dispute at the University of Halle which had led to Wolff’s banishment my Friedrich Wilhelm I in 1723, occasioned by Wolff’s Discourse on the Practical Philosophy of the Chinese of 1721, which argued for the independence of ethics from religion.
Not in OCLC.
100[WOLFF]. S. JOACHIM, Franciscus Maria a. MECHANICAM, ATQUE PHILOSOPHIAM Emmentissimo, & Reverendissimo Domino Prospero Columnae de Sciarra ... nuncupat Franciscus Maria a S. Joachim ... Quodlibet ex capite Mechanicae Theorema, atque Problema pro audientium libito evoluturus, demonstraturus, resoluturus, vel constructurus. Et quodlibet post tertium ex Philosophia Theorema propugnaturus. Romae, Typis Joannis Zempel, MDCCXLVIII [ 1748].£ 185
DISSERTATION. 8vo, pp. [ii], xx, [ii] blank; very clean and fresh throughout; in recent wrappers. A very fresh copy of this quodlibet dissertation on Wolffian mechanics and natural philosophy, presented to Cardinal Prospero Colonna di Sciarra (1707-1765).
The author simply presents a series of propositions to describe Wolff’s mechanics, noting the similarities (and differences) with Newton’s theories where appopriate. In particular, he discusses uniform acceleration, the centre of gravity, inertia and the action of gravity, the ascent and descent of bodies in curved lines, the motion of pendula, the motion of projectiles and of struck bodies, and centrifugal force.
Not recorded by OCLC or KVK.