The Leibniz Philosophical Papers Project

 
The Leibniz Philosophical Papers Project is a long-term effort to recover, edit, translate and publish the philosophical writings of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), one of the most important and wide-ranging thinkers of the early modern world.

A large part of Leibniz's philosophical work remains unpublished, inadequately edited, or unavailable in English. Recovering it requires specialist work with manuscripts: transcription, textual comparison and reconstruction, translation, annotation, dating, contextual research, and preparation for publication.

The first major stage has already been completed. In 2026 Oxford University Press published three volumes of Leibniz's Philosophical Papers, 1677–1686: nearly one million words comprising 314 texts, including 203 appearing in English for the first time.

Two further volumes are currently in preparation for submission to Oxford University Press. They collect Leibniz's critical reading notes and book reviews across approximately forty years of his career and include a large body of material never previously available in English, together with manuscripts never previously published in any language. The current working contents range across metaphysics, natural philosophy, theology, logic, and law, including engagements with major European thinkers as well as Kabbalah, Chinese philosophy, Jewish philosophy, and Indian religion and thought. Their precise contents remain under editorial review while the volumes are completed.

Beyond these books, the project is intended to continue through further volumes covering Leibniz's later writings in three broad areas:

• universal language, characteristic, logic, encyclopaedia and general science
 • metaphysics, natural philosophy, ethics and jurisprudence
 • religion and theology

 
The continuing development of the project is supported by a Scholarly Advisory Board comprising:
 
Professor Roger Ariew — University of South Florida
Professor Daniel J. Cook — City University of New York
Professor Harry Lewis — Harvard University
Professor Pauline Phemister — University of Edinburgh
Professor Paul Rateau — Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
 
The Board provides occasional scholarly advice on the development of the edition. Editorial responsibility remains with Lloyd Strickland. Affiliations are given for identification only and do not imply institutional sponsorship.
 

 
The project's current work has external support through May 2027, including a one-year grant from Emergent Ventures for a defined programme of manuscript research, translation and public-facing work.

The continuation beyond May 2027 is not yet secured.

The immediate aim is therefore to raise £75,000 to secure twelve months of full-time research and editorial work from June 2027 to May 2028. A single patron could underwrite the year, or the target may be shared among several supporters. Multi-year patronage would be especially valuable because it would allow later volumes to be planned and completed without an annual interruption for fundraising.
 
Patronage supports manuscript research, transcription, textual checking and reconstruction, translation, annotation, headnotes, editorial apparatus, preparation of future volumes and proposals, and freely accessible supporting materials.
 
All supporters whose funding contributes to a published volume will be acknowledged in that volume's Acknowledgements unless they prefer anonymity. Editorial responsibility remains entirely independent: patronage does not purchase influence over the selection, transcription, interpretation or translation of texts.