Christian Wolff: biography of this German philosopher

Christian Wolff (1679-1754) was a German rationalist philosopher and mathematician., which stood out in the historical context of the Enlightenment, a movement both cultural and intellectual, especially active in Germany, France and England.

This movement was committed to knowledge and its dissemination as essential tools to create a better world in every way.

In this article you will find a biography of Christian Wolff; We will talk about his origins, his studies, his trajectory... without forgetting his thought, his philosophy, his works and his great contributions to the field of knowledge.

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Biography of Christian Wolff

Christian Wolff (1679-1754), full name Christian Freiherr von Wolff, was a German philosopher who was born in Breslau (Silesia, Poland), on January 24, 1679, and that he died in Halle on April 9, 1754, at the age of 75 years.

This intellectual belonging to the Enlightenment can be defined as an idealist,

systematizer and popularizer of the philosophy of the philosopher Leibniz; in fact, much of his work was focused on disseminating and interpreting the philosophy of that thinker. He also worked as a teacher and went through different universities.

On the other hand, Wolff influenced, years later and notoriously, the rationalist ideas of the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Christian Wolff's ideological current was rationalist, according to which knowledge can be achieved through reason as an activity detached from the material reality that surrounds us, and his ideas were influenced, in turn, by the philosopher and mathematical Rene Descartes. On the other hand, His scientific method ended up being nourished, in large part, by mathematics, since in addition to being a philosopher Wolff was also a mathematician.

Origin and studies

Christian Wolff was the son of a craftsman. He studied Lutheran theology (a branch of Christianity) and philosophy in the Polish city of Breslau., his hometown. Later, in 1699, Wolff began to study other types of studies (physics and mathematics), this time in a German city: Jena.

Three years later, in 1702, he moved to Leipzig to receive his doctorate, a year later, in philosophy. His doctoral thesis was Philosophia practica universalis mathematica methodo conscripta.

Besides, he obtained the professorship of mathematics at the University of Halle, a few years later (in 1706), largely thanks to the recommendations of his companion Gottfried Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician. In said university he worked as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy.

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Controversy: the clash of his ideas with religion

Christian Wolff generated controversy with his thought; specifically, one of his works, Oratio de Sinarum philosophica practica (1721), which dealt with the philosophy of the Chinese, sparked controversy. Following this work, many classmates, theology professors, accused him of being an atheist, and for this reason he was dismissed two years after the publication of the aforementioned work.

However, it is not true that he was an atheist, and this was denied by Christian Wolff with another of his works: Theologia Naturalis, where he exposes the importance of God as being perfect and real.

Intellectual trajectory

Life went on, and as a result of what happened, Christian Wolff was banished from Prussia. His works were also banned in 1723.. Luckily Wolff was taken in by Landgrave Hesse-Kassel.

He began to teach at the University of Marburg, until 1740. That same year, Frederick II of Prussia (also called Frederick II the Great), the third King of Prussia, called him, and as a result he returned to Halle (German city). Four years later, at the University there, he was made chancellor, and two years later, he was given the title of baronet. Christian Wolff remained in Halle until his death.

work and thought

Christian Wolff's work is very extensive, and he came to publish up to 67 titles, organized in 23 volumes, only between the years 1703 and 1753. His works were written in both German and Latin.

On the other hand, for us to understand Wolff's thought and philosophy, his work focused on disseminating and interpreting Leibniz's philosophy. They were Leibniz and Descartes, the two most important figures that influenced the thought of this philosopher.

Concretely, they inspired him to create his philosophical method, which had a mathematical orientation. On the other hand, Christian Wolff's thought was rationalist, which means that he considered reason as the main source of knowledge, although that does not mean that he was not a believer.

One of his most important works was Logic: Rational Thoughts on the Forces of Human Understanding (1728), based on his idea of ​​society, which followed the trend of enlightened despotism.

Beyond this book, these are some of his most relevant works:

• Philosophia practica universalis, mathematica methodo conscripta (1703)
• dissertations pro loco (1703)
• Aërometriae elementa, in quibus aliquot aëris vires ac propietates iuxta methodum geometrarum demonstratur (1708)
• Elementa matheseos universae, IV vols. (1713-1715)
• Lexicon mathematicalum (1716)
• general cosmology (1731)
• empirical psychology (1732)
• psychology rationalis (1734)

Other contributions

Regarding his contributions, Wolff also developed a metaphysical teleologism (a branch of metaphysics that studies the purposes of objects or beings), through which he explained the universal connection and harmony of being as ends established by God.

Another of Christian Wolff's contributions was to systematize and revive scholasticism, a medieval philosophical and theological current, which uses part of classical philosophy to understand the Christianity.

In addition, Wolff developed his own philosophical method, which was a deductive and rationalist method, through which he maintained that all the truths of philosophy were reduced to the laws of formal logic.

Finally, we must not forget the great diffusion that Wolff made of sciences more "remote" from philosophy, such as: mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany...

Bibliographic references:

• Fazio, M (2002). History of Philosophy III: Modern Philosophy. Word.
• Gilson, E. And Langan, T. (1967). Christian Wolff. modern philosophy. Buenos Aires-Barcelona. pp. 192-202 and 542-550.
• Komar, E. (1962). The virtue of prudence in the ethics of Christian Wolff. sapientia. pp. 89-111.
• Wolff, Ch. (2000). Rational thoughts: About God, the world and the soul of man, as well as about all things in general (German Metaphysics). Edited by Agustín González Ruiz. Publisher: Akal.