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The Force of an IdeaWho Was Afraid of Wolff’s Psychology? The Historical Context

The Force of an Idea: Who Was Afraid of Wolff’s Psychology? The Historical Context [Christian Wolff has a bad reputation. There is at least wide agreement that he was the least interesting thinker. The question arises why—if he was so boring—his opponents still got so excited about him. I will explore the historical context of the intense and long-lasting public debates about Wolff throughout the first half of the eighteenth century and the institutional background of the major participants. What caused the hatred and excitement of theologians above all was Wolff’s psychology. They saw it as a threat to Christian theology because it was based on the Leibniz-Wolffian doctrine of pre-established harmony between mind and body. Instead, they defended the traditional influxus physicus between mind and body to secure the free choice of the will (and thereby absolute responsibility of every individual) and to avoid the deterministic implications of pre-established harmony. To overcome the strong resistance of theologians who were supported by political power in all German states, Wolff and his partisans successfully used and developed the public space as a counter power using journals and newspapers.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Force of an IdeaWho Was Afraid of Wolff’s Psychology? The Historical Context

Part of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Book Series (volume 50)
Editors: Araujo, Saulo de Freitas; Pereira, Thiago Constâncio Ribeiro; Sturm, Thomas
Goldenbaum, Ursula
The Force of an Idea — Jul 17, 2021
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References (16)

Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
ISBN
978-3-030-74434-2
Pages
7 –28
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-74435-9_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Christian Wolff has a bad reputation. There is at least wide agreement that he was the least interesting thinker. The question arises why—if he was so boring—his opponents still got so excited about him. I will explore the historical context of the intense and long-lasting public debates about Wolff throughout the first half of the eighteenth century and the institutional background of the major participants. What caused the hatred and excitement of theologians above all was Wolff’s psychology. They saw it as a threat to Christian theology because it was based on the Leibniz-Wolffian doctrine of pre-established harmony between mind and body. Instead, they defended the traditional influxus physicus between mind and body to secure the free choice of the will (and thereby absolute responsibility of every individual) and to avoid the deterministic implications of pre-established harmony. To overcome the strong resistance of theologians who were supported by political power in all German states, Wolff and his partisans successfully used and developed the public space as a counter power using journals and newspapers.]

Published: Jul 17, 2021

Keywords: Mindbodyproblem; Free choice of the will; Public sphere

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