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in other parts of the same work been under Swedenborg’s immediate
in-fluence and worked o ver his ideas. On the other hand it does not seem
as if Wright had known Swedenborg’s similar thoughts. I cannot
express myself more decidedly since I have not had access to the original,
but it would appear as if Nyrén considered Wright’s work to be
inde-pendent of Swedenborg’s. As concerns Buffon, it is known that he
possessed Swedenborg’s Principia in 1736 and it is indeed possible that
he was led to his cosmological speculations through Swedenborg’s work.
But Buffon’s views differ in high degree from Swedenborg’s, so that it
would be incorrect to hold that he derived any great service from
Swedenborg’s opinions. There is indeed no doubt that Buffon knew the
vortical theory of Descartes, which was at that time generally
promul-gated in the universities, which theory Buffon’s views resemble as little
as they do Swedenborg’s. Laplace knew Buffon’s views, but hardly Kant’s
and still less Swedenborg’s.
The cliief interest in Swedenborg’s cosmological conceptions lies in
this, that they form a link between the cosmological conceptions of the
ancient philosophers and of Descartes on the one side and those of
Kant on the other side. Similarly to the conceptions which they connect,
Swedenborg’s are little developed in the mechanical direction, so that the
chief weight must be laid on their natural pliilosophical part.
That Swedenborg himself considered his Principia to be chiefly of
pliilosophical content appears not only from the introduction »on the
means which lead to true philosophy and on the truly pliilosophical man»,
but also especially from the Appendix,360 where it is emphasized that his
system is built of the concepts »finita», »activa», and »elementaria». He
says that he has not published his wTork to wdn the favor of the learned
world, or a name or farne, neither wTill it concern him if no one will give
recognition to his work — in this respect he takes an entirely different
position about’ six years before in the hitherto unprinted Principia. A
man who is striving to find the truth of philosophy does not concern
himself as to such things. »Neither do I wish to ask anyone to depart
from the principles of the illustrious and ingenious authors and to
accept my own, wherefore I have not wished to refer to the philosophy or
narae of anyone, in order not to wound anyone or to contradict another’s
opinion and not to appear to wish to in any wise diminish his renown».
»Truth is one and speaks for itself.»
He however refers to a single philosopher, remarkably enough none
more significaut than Christian Wolff, who »has contributed much to
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