On the Edition of the philosophical Writings of Johann Heinrich Lambert

Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777) as a philosopher, mathematician and scientist was one of the most important German speaking thinkers between Wolff and Kant. The scope of his philosophically relevant works ranges from metaphysics to cosmology and logic, to aesthetics and semiotics. Resting on the tradition of Leibniz’s and Wolff’s, Lambert strives to develop a universal language of science without narrowing the focus on just the natural sciences. In his methodology, he recognizes the claim of strict geometrical demonstration as well as that of probabilistic evidence. Perceptual experience and attention to language are just as important to him as rational deduction. His great project is to reduce metaphysics as basic science to a priori knowledge by analyzing the terms and thus finally to make it the reliable foundation of the sciences which must be built on it.

The edition of Lambert’s Philosophische Schriften, established by Hans Werner Arndt (1930-2004), was continued by Lothar Kreimendahl with financial resources disposed of for this purpose by Arndt’s will.

After reprint volumes with the great epistemological and ontological works (vols. I–IV), the German philosophical correspondence (vol. IX) and the logical and philosophical essays (vols.VI–VII) had been published already in the 1960s, vol. V containing the Kosmologische Briefe über die Einrichtung des Weltbaues (›Cosmological Letters on the Arrangement of the World-Edifice‹) appeared in 2006. This is the first time since the original edition of 1761 that this epoch-making work has been made fully accessible in German. Vol. VIII (2007) contains in two sub-volumes further philosophical essays and reviews, which had been published in Lambert’s lifetime or shortly after his death. Volume X (2008) presents in three sub-volumes philosophical writings, drafts and reviews from the estate in new typeset, including as a new edition the two important early drafts on the “Criterium veritatis” and “Über die Methode, die Metaphysik, Theologie und Moral richtiger zu beweisen” as well as – for the first time – studies in the field of the New Organon and the Anlage zur Architektonik with various approaches to a conceptual notation, teleological and ethical considerations, several essays on aesthetics and religion and finally as an addendum to vol. VIII an instructive self-review of the New Organon (Latin, French and German). At the beginning of 2020, the Philosophische Schriften were rounded off by a supplement volume (funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation), which contains a new edition of the Monatsbuch in a significantly improved reading. The entries are annotated in detail and interlocked with a manuscript catalogue, a catalogue of letters and a source bibliography (including a list of Lambert’s reviews) by means of numerous cross references.

10 volumes plus supplement. Hildesheim et al. 1965–2020. Published by Hans Werner Arndt†, continued by Lothar Kreimendahl. 7386 p., cloth-bound.

• Vol. I: Neues Organon (oder Gedanken über die Erforschung und Bezeichnung des Wahren und dessen Unterscheidung vom Irrthum und Schein). 1st volume. Leipzig 1764. Reprint (with an introduction by H. W. Arndt): Hildesheim 1965. XXXVIII/(18)/592 p.
• Vol. II: Neues Organon. 2nd volume. Leipzig 1764. Reprint: Hildesheim 1965. 435 p.
• Vol. III: Anlage zur Architectonic (oder Theorie des Einfachen und des Ersten in der philosophischen und mathematischen Erkenntniß.) 1st volume. Riga 1771. Reprint (with an introduction by H. W. Arndt): Hildesheim 1965. xxvi/XXIX/376 p. – In some, but not all, copies of volume III, p. 16 in fact contains the contents of p.163. If you have such a faulty copy, you can download the correct p.16 as a PDF here. (PDF, 1 MB)
• Vol. IV: Anlage zur Architectonic. 2nd volume. Riga 1771. Reprint: Hildesheim 1965. 560 p.
• Vol. V: Kosmologische Briefe über die Einrichtung des Weltbaues. Augsburg 1761. Reprint (with an introduction by A. Emmel and A. Spree†): Hildesheim et al. 2006. xlix/XXVIII/318 p.
  – Reviews: (1) by Geo Siegwart, in: „Das 18. Jahrhundert“, 32.2 (2008), p.312–314; (2) by Enrico Colombo in: „Rivista di storia della filosofia“, 2008, 68, Fasc. 2, p.386.
• Vol. VI: Logische und philosophische Abhandlungen. Ed. by J. Bernoulli with the participation of C.H. Müller. 1st volume. Berlin 1782. Reprint (with an introduction by H. W. Arndt): Hildesheim 1967. 14/XXXII/524 p.
• Vol. VII: Logische und philosophische Abhandlungen. 2nd volume. Berlin 1787. Reprint: Hildesheim 1969. XVI/428 p.
• Vol. VIII: Kleinere philosophische Abhandlungen und Rezensionen (in two sub-volumes). Reprint (with an introduction by A. Emmel and A. Spree†): Hildesheim et al. 2007. XLII/763 p.
  – Rezension: (1) by Volker Peckhaus, in: „The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic“, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2008, p. 267–268; (2) by Enrico Pasini, in: „Rivista di Filosofia“, 99.2 (Aug. 2008), p.338–339; (3) by Wolfgang Breidert, in: „History and Philosophy of Logic“, 30.1 (Feb. 2009), p.103–104
• Vol. IX: (Lamberts deutscher gelehrter) Briefwechsel. Ed. by J. Bernoulli. Volume 1. Berlin 1782. Reprint (with an introduction by H. W. Arndt): Hildesheim 1968. 15/XLVIII/432 p. [Volumes 2–5 of Lambert’s “Deutscher gelehrter Briefwechsel”, edited by Johann (III) Bernoulli from 1782 to 1787, have not been included in reprint in the Philosophische Schriften.]
• Vol. X: Philosophische Schriften, Entwürfe und Rezensionen aus dem Nachlaß (in three sub-volumes). (With an introduction by A. Emmel and A. Spree†) Hildesheim et al. 2008. XCIV/1418 p.
  – Complete table of contents (PDF, 46 kB) of all ten volumes in sub-vol. 3, p. 1413–1418.
  – List of printing and other errors (PDF, 71 kB) in volumes VIII and X continuously detected by the office (latest update: 22 September 2022). Among the mss. L.I.a 744B,2–5 specified in p. XLII of vol. X.1 is the unprinted text 744B, 1E, p.73: (PDF, 57 kB) “Die angeführten Aufgaben lassen sich in etl. Classen einteilen " etc.
  – Review: by Jean École in: „Filosofia oggi“, XXXII (2009), f. IV, p.366f.
• Supplement volume: Johann Heinrich Lamberts Monatsbuch. New edition with introduction, commentary and catalogues of Lambert’s writings, letters and posthumous manuscripts by Niels W. Bokhove and Armin Emmel (in two sub-volumes). Hildesheim et al. 2020. CLVII/925 p. (extensive table of contents  (PDF, 158 kB)and index of corrigenda and addenda (PDF, 103 kB))