WOLF, JoHANic CHRISTIAN VON, a celebrated philosopher and mathematician, was b. in 1679, at Breslau. His father, a rather poor but well-informed artisan, made it his .chiefohject to give a good education to his son, who at an early age showed excellent abilities. Wolf received the elements of his education at the gympasium of Breslau, and went to Jena in 1699 to study theology. However, mathematics and philosophy were his favorite sciences, and to them he almost exclusively devoted himself. In par ticular, he studied Descartes and Tschirnhausen's writings, to whose Ite,dieina mentis he wrote annotations, which brought him into connection with Leibnitz. In 1703 he deliv ered at Leipsic a graduation disputation, .De Philosophia Practica Universali, Ifetliodo Mathematica Conseripta, which made a very favorable impression, and then began to give lectures in mathematics and philosophy, which were very numerously attended. By various works which he published on special branches of mathematics, his name became celebrated even in foreign countries. When the incursion of Charles XII. into Saxony obliged him to leave Leipsic, he received, on the recommendation of Leibnitz, a call to Halle, as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. He there acquired great celebrity by his systematical method of teaching, as well as by numerous mathe matical writings. The clearness and definiteness of the ideas and propositions which he exhibited in his mathematical lectures, were something till then quite unknown. Helice it came that his system of metaphysical and moral philosophy, which he worked out according to this mathematical method, and published, met with universal ap probation, and quickly spread through Germany: it became a kind of rage to treat all sorts of subjects in the mathematical method, the effect of which was often ludicrously pedantic. Wolf, however, was violently attacked by his colleagues in Halle, especially by those theologians who favored the pietism then coming into vogue: he was declared to be a despiser of religion, and a teacher of error; and a formal accusation was brought against him to the government. The immediate ground of the accusation was his oration De Philosaphia Sinensium Horati, in which lie spoke with approval of the morality of Confucius, besides which the basest insinuations were brought against him, derived from his doctrine of freedom, which, it was said, en couraged social anarchy. By a cabinet order of Frederick William I., of date, Nov. 15, 1723, Wolf was deposed from his office, and was commanded, under pain of death, to quit Halle in 24 hours, and the Prussian dominions in two days. He did soon Nov. .23, and met with a favorable reception in Cassel, and was appointed to a chair in the university of Marburg. The dispute about his philosophical system now became gen eral, and nearly the whole of Germany took part either for or against him. At the same
time he received from abroad many marks of honor and advantageous proposals, which last, however, he declined. In the mean time, the Prussian government had begun to regret the steps it had been led to take against him, and had appointed a commission to re-examine the matter. This resulted in his entire justification; and when Frederick II., who had a great esteem for him, and had studied his sv•Pm, ascended the throne (1740), Wolf was induced to return to Halle as professor ... law of nature and na tions, and with the titles of privy-councilor and vice-chancellor. In 1743 he became chancellor in the place of Ludwig, and was raised to the rank of baron of the empire by the elector of Bavaria during the regency. Wolf died in 1754. Before his death he saw his philosophy spread over the whole of Germany and a great part of Europe; be had however, outlived his reputation as an academical er. That he did great ser vice to philosophy, cannot be denied. If he did not enrich it by great and brilliant dis coveries, lie at least directed attention to systematic method; and by treating scientific subjects in the mother tongue, he did much to create that wide-spread taste for philo sophical speculation which has since been characteristic of Germany. . Wolf adopted Leibnitz's hypotheses and principles, which he endeavored to carry out into a complete system and popularize. But although the Wolfian philosophy was a great improve ment on the scholastic Aristotelianism that had previously prevailed, its dogmatism could not stand the criticism of Kant, and it is now a theory of the past. By his voluminous writings, partly in the German language, and the immense number of his pupils, Wolf had a wide and beneficial influence on his age, more especially as coun teracting pietism and mysticism, then rampant. He also did good service to the German language. The multitude and extent of his writings is truly marvelous, even if we look at nothing else than the mechanical labor of writing them. He treated mathematics and philosophy in double set of works; the one in full in Latin, the other shorter as German school-books, of the most of which several editions have been published. Besides these, are a great number of treatises on single subjects in physics, mathematics and philoso phy. His systematic works on all the chief branches of philosophy alone; amount to 22 vols. in quarto.—See Christian Wolf's eigene Lebensbeschrezbung (Christian Wolf's Auto biography), published by Wuttke (Leip., 1841); Ludovici, Sammlung and Aus-zuge der Sammtlichen Streitschriften wegen der Wolf schen Philosophic, u. s. so. (Collection and Extracts of the Controversies about the Wolfian Philosophy, etc., 2 vols., Leip., 1737); by the same author, Auclarlicher Entwurf einer vollskindigen Historic der Wolf'schen Philosophic (3 vols., Leip., 1737).