Abstract

This review of some recent books concerning Leibniz first takes into account the history of the philosopher's relations with the Royal Society and Newton through Henry Oldenburg, as presented by Marie Boas Hall in her recent "Henry Oldenburg". A comment follows about Leibniz' reaction in the year 1689 against Newton's "Principia mathematica" in the light of "Reading the Principia" by Niccolò Guicciardini. Moreover, a comprehensive collection of Leibniz' philosophical writings, edited and traslated into Italian by Massimo Mugnai - also the author of an introduction to Leibniz' thought - and Enrico Pasini, proposes a fresh view, against a solid textual basis, of the most relevant themes of his lifelong reflections about the foundations of the calculus, dynamics, logic, metaphysics, as well as right, morals and theodicy. This collection puts also a general question about the gap between the philosopher's skill as