Christian Wolff Quotes
Christian Wolff was a German philosopher, mathematician, and the most influential continental rationalist between Leibniz and Kant. He developed a vast, systematic philosophy in German and in Latin organized around the principle of sufficient reason, distinguishing empirical and rational psychology, theology, ontology, and cosmology in a way that long shaped the curriculum of the German universities. The quotes below are attributed to Christian Wolff, organized by topic.
Browse Christian Wolff by topic
Christian Wolff on Knowledge
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Attributed to Christian Wolff:
“Philosophy is the science of all possible things insofar as they can be.”
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Attributed to Christian Wolff:
“Mathematics is the model of all genuine science.”
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Attributed to Christian Wolff:
“We must distinguish in order to unite.”
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Attributed to Christian Wolff:
“Reason and experience together yield the certainty of natural philosophy.”
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“One day I said to myself that it would be better to get rid of all that—melody, rhythm, harmony, etc. This was not a negative thought and did not mean that it was necessary to avoid them, but rather that, while doing something else, they would appear spontaneously. We had to liberate ourselves from the direct and peremptory consequence of intention and effect, because the intention would always be”
quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music , ISBN 0028645812 -
“Form is a theatrical event of a certain length, and the length itself may be unpredictable.”
quoted in Aspects of 20th Century Music , ISBN 0130493465
Christian Wolff on Mind
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“One day I said to myself that it would be better to get rid of all that—melody, rhythm, harmony, etc. This was not a negative thought and did not mean that it was necessary to avoid them, but rather that, while doing something else, they would appear spontaneously. We had to liberate ourselves from the direct and peremptory consequence of intention and effect, because the intention would always be our own and would be circumscribed, when so many other forces are evidently in action in the final effect.”
quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music , ISBN 0028645812
Christian Wolff on Truth
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Attributed to Christian Wolff:
“Nothing exists without a sufficient reason for its being so rather than otherwise.”