Contexte génétique et première réception de la Monadologie. Leibniz, Wolff et la doctrine de l'harmonie préétabliee

Until the 20th century, criticism about Leibniz's 'Principles of Nature and Grace' and 'Monadology' has been characterised by a number of mistakes and misunderstandings, which have roots in the circumstances surrounding the genesis of these manuscripts. As a consequence, erroneous information about these texts was included in an anonymous review, published in 1721 in the Acta Eruditorum of Leipzig. Research on primary sources prouves that the author of this review (who was in fact the author of the Latin translation of Monadology, published immediately afterwards) was Christian Wolff, who was in possession of a copy of Leibniz's manuscript as early as 1717. Wolff's initiative of translating the Monadology can be seen as a part of a cultural strategy aiming to prevent any idealistic interpretation of Leibniz's monadological thought. From this point of view, to consider the theory of pre-established harmony as based on a system of strictly dualistic metaphysics was an essential element of Wolff's philosophical strategy.