Johann Christoph Sturm (3 November 1635 – 26 December 1703) was a German philosopher, professor at

University of Altdorf The University of Altdorf () was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of ...

and founder of a short-lived scientific academy known as the Collegium Curiosum, based on the model of the Florentine Accademia del Cimento. He edited two volumes of the academy's proceedings under the title ''Collegium Experimentale'' (1676 and 1685). Sturm is the author of ''Physica Electiva'' (1697), a book that criticized

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of math ...

and prompted him to publish a

rebuke In English law and the canon law of the Church of England, a rebuke is a censure on a member of the clergy. (Google Books) It is the least severe censure available against clergy of the Church of England, less severe than a monition. A rebuke can ...

. Sturm's critique was aimed at Leibniz's view that

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

and/or its constituent parts possess some creative force of their own. This criticism was partly

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

, in that Sturm claimed Leibniz's view of Nature undermined the sovereignty of the Christian God.Gottfried Leibniz, Philosophical Papers and Letters, ed. by Leroy Loemker, (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing, 1969) 499-508. Acta Eruditorum - II astronomia, 1690 – BEIC 13400291

Acta Eruditorum - II astronomia, 1690 – BEIC 13400291

Works

* ''Collegium experimentale'', Nuremberg: Endter, vol. 1 (1676), availabl
here
an
here
vol. 2 (1685) availabl
herehere
an
here
* ''Physica electiva sive hypothetica'', vol 1, Nuremberg: Endter, 1697, availabl
here
an
here
vol.2, Altdorf: Kohles, 1698. * A list of works by Sturm with links to online versions is available a
Astronomie in Nürnberg
section "Ausgewählte Werke".

Works

References

Further reading