Mathesis universalis is a hypothetical universal science modelled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. It would be supported by a Calculus ratiocinator.

The desire for a language more perfect than any natural language had been expressed before Leibniz by John Wilkins in his An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in 1668.

Predicate logic could be seen as a modern system with some of these universal characteristics, at least as far as mathematics and computer science are concerned.