Works of Leibniz in the PD

[garygeck]

Hello,

in this thread: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17656&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30 there was talk of interest in the works of Leibniz. The feeling as that there were not many texts in the PD to use...I am currently working on the mentioned Robert Latta Leibniz book (seen here: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26061&highlight=monadology). This contains translations, but is mostly secondary criticism in nature.

I really wanted to bring up that there are actually quite a few other Public Domain Leibniz works that people can read. There is presently no scholarly nor translated works of Leibniz in audiobook format in English in existence that I'm aware of (commercial or free).

There are many works on and by Leibniz that are public domain. Below are just some of those that I recommend:

The philosophical works of Leibnitz .. (1890) by Leibniz, Translated by George Martin Duncan. A great collection of translations of Leibniz. This was a pivotal work in the history of Leibnitz translations to English. Sadly, the quality of the translation is in doubt. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029017931

Life of Godfrey William von Leibnitz (1845) by Mackie based on German work of Guhrauer. I read this a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. http://www.archive.org/details/lifegodfreywill00guhrgoog

New Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1916) by Leibniz. A primary work by Leibniz critical of John Locke's famous work. http://www.archive.org/details/newessaysconcer00gerhgoog

Leibniz by John Theodore Merz, http://www.archive.org/details/leibniz00merzgoog. This is a pretty short book about Leibniz written in a series on famous philosophers. A purely secondary work.

Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical Exposition (1888) by John Dewey http://www.archive.org/details/leibnizsnewessa00dewegoog Another purely secondary work by John Dewey who was a fascinating philosopher in his own right. A critical work on Leibniz.

A new interpretation of Herbart's psychology and educational theory through the philosophy of Leibniz (1906) by John Davidson. More about Herbart than Leibniz but still a fascinating work. Pretty short and readable. http://www.archive.org/details/anewinterpretat00davigoog

These are just a few....

[garygeck]

Sorry i stand semi-corrected, when I say there has never been a Leibniz audiobook made. There hasn't as a whole book, but there is one audio recording of a selection from
Leibniz's ON THE ULTIMATE ORIGINATION OF THINGS":

http://www.listentogenius.com/author.php/313

[ColleenMc]

The original poster did complete his recording of Leibniz' Monadology, which remains the only Leibniz work in English recorded in full.

There is one work by Leibniz at Project Gutenberg in English translation, Theodicy:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17147

There are also two versions of Monadology, in German and French.

John Dewey's book on Leibniz, mentioned in the original post, is also available on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40957

This site provides further links to online editions of Leibniz' work, in the original German as well as English and other translations, mostly via Google Books:
http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/ctolley/texts/leibniz.html


Colleen