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In February 1686, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz sent a letter to Antoine Arnauld, via their mutual friend Ernst, the Landgrave of Hessen-Rheinfels. This letter contained a short summary of Leibniz's most recent philosophical work, the Discourse on Metaphysics, and asked Arnauld for his reaction to it. Arnauld's response was extremely harsh: he called Leibniz's views shocking and useless (9) and advised him to stop engaging in metaphysical speculations (11). Yet, Leibniz did not let this discourage him. In the exchange that followed, Leibniz was intent on convincing Arnauld that the views contained in the Discourse are well supported and less radical than Arnauld initially thought. And while he never convinced Arnauld completely, he managed to allay some of Arnauld's worries. Along the way, the two men discussed topics such as divine foreknowledge, freedom, contingency, complete concepts, substancehood, causation, the laws of physics, and the special status of rational souls. The correspondence continued until March 1690—though Arnauld stopped responding to Leibniz's letters in August 1687. It is indisputably one of the most important philosophical texts from Leibniz's middle period and also sheds light on Arnauld's views.
Even though various editions and translations of this correspondence have long been...