A Study Of Leibniz’s Novissima Sinica

Leibniz, a Germanic scientist and philosopher, has a keen interest in China. Novissima Sinica is a work about China, which is compiled and processed by Leibniz in 1697. In addition to the preface of Leibniz, the book’s first version includes six letters sent from China by missionary. When reprinted in 1699, J. Bouvet’s Histoire de L’empereur de La Chne is also captured. The letters embodied in this book mainly introduce some latest information about China. In the preface of NS, Leibniz expresses his views on China, which are also penetrated in these letters chosen by Leibniz. Based on the second version of NS, this thesis tries to sort out Leibniz’s concrete understandings of China in his NS, and consults other documents of the same period, such as Louis Le Comte’s Nouveau memoire sur l’etat present de la Chine、 Chinia In The Sixteenth Century The Journals Of MathewRicci(1583——1610)and so on. The significance of history and social reality of these ideas reflected in these works are analysed as well. The thesis is made up three parts:introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction briefly presents the researches of NS at home and abroad, the basis of title selection and research questions.Body will be divided into five parts. The first part introduces the basic condition of NS edited by Leibniz, including the writing process, main content, version and so on. The second part shows the views of Leibniz on Chinese culture and system and analyses his opinions on the aspect of Chinese traditional custom, religion, politics, law and so on. The third part presents the situation about the spread of scientific knowledge in China and the west and introduces Leibniz’s view on the relationship between scientific knowledge and the civilization of China and the west. Part four introduces the role which religion plays during the period when Edict of Toleration was promulgated and in the process of signing Ni Bu Chu Tiao Yue and reviews Leibniz’s opinion on the relationship between religious spreading and the communication between China and the west. Part five presents Leibniz’s view on the relationship between China and world and analyses emperor Kangxi’s contributions and Russian status in the communication between China and the west.Conclusions can be reached in this thesis as follows:the views of Leibniz on Chinese traditional custom, religion, politics and other aspects is authentic, inclusive, ideal and visionary. Compared with the previous westerners’understanding of China, his views is more comprehensive and profound, which reflects the further communication between China and the west in the late Ming and early Qing dynasty. At the time when Leibniz lives, there are also many correct ideas and comprehensions among the opinions on China-- some are positive, while others are negative. There is no one else but Leibniz who ponders on the interaction between China and the Europe in the height of human being’s social progress. He advocates strengthening the communication of knowledge between both sides to achieve the equal dialogues. He has no strong bias towards Europe. Furthermore, he also devotes himself to the exchange between China and the west. All of his contributions mentioned above makes him extremely outstanding in the Chinese and western exchange in seventeenth century.