ON THE ULTIMATE ORIGINATION 

 OF THINGS. 1697. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



THIS paper, written in Latin, is dated by Leibniz, November 

 2 3> 1697. It may have been int'ended for the Ada Eruditorum ; 

 but it remained unpublished until 1840, when Erdmann in- 

 cluded it in his edition. Leibniz here explains the function 

 of the principle of sufficient reason in his philosophy, expand- 

 ing what he had already said in a paper written about 1685, 

 to which Erdmann give.s the title, De Scientia UniversaU seu 

 Calculo philosophico (see E. 83 b ; G. vii. 200). 36-48 of the 

 Monadology may be regarded as a condensation of the main 

 argument of this Essay On the Ultimate Origination of Things. 

 In the latter part of the Essay we have a vindication of the 

 optimism of Leibniz (that this is the best of all possible 

 worlds), and some of the chief doctrines of the Theodicee are 

 given in outline. 



The Ultimate Origination of Things is given by E. 147 sqq. ; 

 G. vii. 302 sqq. 



BESIDES the world or the aggregate of finite things 

 there is a certain unity [unum] which is dominant, not 

 only as the soul is dominant in me or rather as the ego 

 itself is dominant in my body, but also in a much higher 

 sense 1 . For the dominant unity of the universe not 

 only rules the world but constructs or 2 fashions it. It 

 is higher than the world and, so 'to speak, extramuiidane, 

 and is thus the ultimate reason of things. For the 



1 Of. Monadology, 70 and 72, notes in and 115. 



2 E. reads ' and.' 



Z 



