Christian Wolff

Christian Wolff (1679–1754) was a German rationalist philosopher, born in Breslau. Appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at the University of Halle in 1706, he built a comprehensive system modelled on Leibniz, presenting every science in mathematical order. He wrote chiefly in German, making it a language of scholarly instruction.

His praise of Confucian ethics in a 1721 oration enraged the Pietist faculty, and in 1723 King Frederick William I expelled him from Prussia on pain of death. He taught at Marburg until 1740, when Frederick the Great recalled him to Halle.