First French edition, after the original German published in 1732 under the title: Psychologia empirica.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title-label. One lack at head, similar lacks at foot. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners slightly bumped. Title page with browning to margins.
Wolf sought to redefine philosophy as a whole based on a stable principle of knowledge founded on deduction and the model of geometry; a rationalist, he was a disciple of Leibniz from whom he borrowed many concepts. And yet for the first time in the history of philosophy, Wolf conferred an autonomy on psychology that it had never had before, distinguishing between rational psychology and empirical psychology (the translator having chosen the term experimental psychology which would be promoted to a great future in France). Furthermore Wolf perfected the question of symbolism and the relation of the body to sign and representation. The translator, faced with Wolf's incredibly prolix work and the mediocre abridgments he encountered, preferred to follow the author step by step in the construction of his ideas and theses without giving an exhaustive and literal translation that would be barely readable.
Armorial bookplate from the 18th century, unidentified.