Leibniz viewed reviews as charitable acts by savants who dedicate part of their time to advancing science and returning it to society. This activity must be disinterested and scientifically honest insofar as it does not bring honor and recognition to the savant. Leibniz was an active reviewer of books for major journals of the time. Does his activity reflect what he says about savants? Through an analysis of a paradigmatic case – his review of John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding – I argue that, in this case at least, Leibniz used reviews as a scientific tool to instill prejudices in his scientific peers. By «prejudices», I do not mean false judgments about a book but rather precognitions that one must have to critically assess a book's content, which may incline readers to reject the author's arguments.
University of Münster, Germany - ORCID: 0000-0001-8022-4538
Titolo del capitolo
Leibniz and the Function of Book Reviews
Autori
Lucia Oliveri
Lingua
Inglese
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0999-1.03
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799)
Sottotitolo del libro
Volume 2
Curatori
Pasquale Terracciano, Francesco Valerio Tommasi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
282
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0999-1
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0998-4
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0999-1
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-1060-7
Collana
Knowledge and its Histories
ISSN della collana
3035-5974
e-ISSN della collana
3035-5923