Vier Schriften zum Ende von Wolffs erster Lehrperiode an der Universität Halle

When Christian Wolff was removed from his teaching post by royal decree on 8 November 1723 and asked to leave Prussia within 48 hours “on pain of death”, a period of tense but peaceful coexistence between Pietistic theology and “new philosophy” at the University of Halle came to an abrupt end. Contemporary accounts of the events are almost all coloured by their bias towards one side or the other, especially of course the polemics by the two principal opponents, Wolff and Lange. The picture conveyed in the anonymous or pseudonymous works about the “Causa Wolffiana” collected here is not only more nuanced but also goes far beyond a mere description of the reasons for Wolff’s expulsion from Halle. Although anonymous pamphlets can never be considered completely reliable sources, combining these with other source material and securely authenticated publications offers a considerable gain. The works provide outstanding documentation of what the contemporary public knew of events in Halle, or at least what they could know if they were not content with the pamphlets issued by the two sides, and they add subtler shades to the black-and-white depictions of events by those directly involved.