Gathered here for the first time are all the key texts in a crucial debate in modern philosophy, centred on Leibniz's famous 1695 essay, the 'New System of the Nature of Substances and their Communication'. In this classic essay Leibniz introduced to a broad European readership the strikingly original metaphysical ideas he had begun to come to a decade earlier.

His 'system' became increasingly famous and drew him into discussion and development of these ideas, both in public and in private, with a variety of thinkers: Simon Foucher, Henri Basnage de Beauval, Francois Lamy, Isaac Jaquelot, the Englishwoman Damaris Masham, Pierre Desmaizeaux, Rene Joseph de Tournemine, and most notably the great French philosopher and scholar Pierre Bayle.

Woolhouse and Francks's new English edition gives the only full representation of this debate, and will therefore be essential reading for anyone who wishes to gain a proper understanding of Leibniz's philosophy and its intellectual context. As Leibniz himself said, 'he who knows only what I have published does not know me'. All the texts are newly translated and extensively annotated; many appear in English for the first time.