[G. W. Leibniz: medicine and the sciences of life. Ist part: Leibniz as a "medical practioner].

A universal thinker, Leibniz always expressed a marked interest for matters of life. A reader and a correspondent of the most famous physicians of his time, he exhorted them - with some results - to found their theories on the ground of detailed comparative observations and of verified experiments, firmly distinguishing scientific and metaphysic points of view. He worked out a primal organismic theory, but devoted himself mostly to set up a coherent medical training programme and a requiring health policy. Nevertheless, beyond anecdote, Leibniz never pretended to be a medical practioner, but thought he was a "medically-minded" philosopher.