Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Note on texts and translations
- Introduction
- Philosophical and theological writings
- 1 The Christianity of reason (c. 1753)
- 2 On the reality of things outside God (1763)
- 3 Spinoza only put Leibniz on the track of [his theory of] pre-established harmony (1763)
- 4 On the origin of revealed religion (1763 or 1764)
- 5 Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)
- 6 [Editorial commentary on the ‘Fragments’ of Reimarus, 1777]
- 7 On the proof of the spirit and of power (1777)
- 8 The Testament of St John (1777)
- 9 A rejoinder (1778)
- 10 A parable (1778)
- 11 Axioms (1778)
- 12 New hypothesis on the evangelists as merely human historians (1778)
- 13 Necessary answer to a very unnecessary question of Herr Hauptpastor Goeze of Hamburg (1778)
- 14 The religion of Christ (1780)
- 15 That more than five senses are possible for human beings (c. 1780)
- 16 Ernst and Falk: dialogues for Freemasons (1778–80)
- 17 The education of the human race (1777–80)
- 18 [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Recollections of conversations with Lessing in July and August 1780 (1785)]
- Index
- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy
5 - Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Note on texts and translations
- Introduction
- Philosophical and theological writings
- 1 The Christianity of reason (c. 1753)
- 2 On the reality of things outside God (1763)
- 3 Spinoza only put Leibniz on the track of [his theory of] pre-established harmony (1763)
- 4 On the origin of revealed religion (1763 or 1764)
- 5 Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)
- 6 [Editorial commentary on the ‘Fragments’ of Reimarus, 1777]
- 7 On the proof of the spirit and of power (1777)
- 8 The Testament of St John (1777)
- 9 A rejoinder (1778)
- 10 A parable (1778)
- 11 Axioms (1778)
- 12 New hypothesis on the evangelists as merely human historians (1778)
- 13 Necessary answer to a very unnecessary question of Herr Hauptpastor Goeze of Hamburg (1778)
- 14 The religion of Christ (1780)
- 15 That more than five senses are possible for human beings (c. 1780)
- 16 Ernst and Falk: dialogues for Freemasons (1778–80)
- 17 The education of the human race (1777–80)
- 18 [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Recollections of conversations with Lessing in July and August 1780 (1785)]
- Index
- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy
Summary
I see that the controversy on the eternal punishments of hell is about to flare up again among our theologians. Let us hope that it can finally be settled and put aside! For the most depressing thing about such disputes is without doubt the fact that they generally achieve nothing, so that twenty or fifty years later, the first zealot or quibbler who comes along thinks he is entitled to reopen the whole issue.
To avoid becoming like one of those scribblers, it is essential first of all to study the history of the disputed doctrine in all its ramifications. Only when we know exactly where each of our predecessors dropped his thread can we hope to pick them all up again and, by comparing their different directions, set off on that path to truth which has been lost or never discovered in the first place. And if these predecessors include men like Leibniz, what can possibly be more instructive than to follow every trace of their footsteps and take our bearings from there?
Nothing more is necessary, I think, to introduce the following few lines, hitherto unpublished, of that great man who, if I had my way, would not have written a single line in vain. The facts of the matter can perhaps best be described in the words of Mosheim – especially since this affords an opportunity to confirm the accuracy of these words and to furnish them with a literary commentary.
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- Lessing: Philosophical and Theological Writings , pp. 37 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005