Johann Sturm

Johann Sturm
Born	(1635-11-03)3 November 1635
Died	26 December 1703(1703-12-26) (aged 68)
Nationality	German
Occupation	Philosopher

Not to be confused with Johannes Sturm (1507-1589), German-French educator

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

Sturm is the author of Physica Electiva (1697), a book that criticized Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and prompted him to publish a rebuke. Sturm's critique was aimed at Leibniz's view that Nature and/or its constituent parts possess some creative force of their own. This criticism was partly theological, in that Sturm claimed Leibniz's view of Nature undermined the sovereignty of the Christian God.

Works by Sturm

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

Studies on Sturm

• Ahnert, Thomas (2002), The Culture of Experimentalism in the Holy Roman Empire: Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703) and the Collegium Experimentale [1].
• Wiesenfeldt, Gerhard, "Speculative and Experimental Philosophy in Universities: Eclecticism", Early Modern Experimental Philosophy, 6 December 2010.

Illustratiom from Excerpta ex literis... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1690