Leibniz

by Anapolitanos, Dionysios

• ISBN13: 9780792354765
• ISBN10: 0792354761
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-12-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Anapolitanos critically examines and evaluates three basic characteristics of the Leibnizian metaphysical system: Leibniz's version of representation; the principle of continuity; and space, time, and the phenomenally spatio-temporal. Chapter I discusses representation, especially as it refers to the connection between the real and the phenomenal levels of Leibniz's system. Chapter II examines the principle of continuity, including continuity as a general feature of every level of Leibniz's metaphysics. The position adopted is that the problem of the composition of the continuum played a central role on the development of Leibniz's non-spatial and non-temporal monadic metaphysics. The machinery developed is then used to offer a new interpretation of Leibniz' metaphysics of space and time. The notion of indirect representation is used to construct appropriate models that clarify the nature of the correspondence between the real and the phenomenal levels in the case of the relations 'spatially between' and 'temporally between', as well as in the cases of spatial and temporal density. Finally, Leibniz's solution to the problem of the continuum is discussed, arguing that it is not entirely satisfactory. A non-anachronistic alternative is proposed, compatible with Leibniz's metaphysics of substance.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Abbreviations	xii
Representationalism	1	(49)
The General Setting	1	(11)
Representations and Relations	12	(8)
Indirect Representations	20	(5)
Perception	25	(6)
Distinct, Confused, Petite, and Unconscious Perceptions	31	(19)
Continuity	50	(44)
The Principle of Continuity and its Relation to Other Leibnizian Principles	50	(13)
Kinds of Continuity and Apparent Cases of Discontinuity	63	(6)
Density and Sequential or Cauchy Completeness	69	(9)
The Role of Continuity in the Formation of the Leibnizian System	78	(16)
Space, Time, the Spatio-Temporal, and Monadic Reality	94	(81)
Space, the Spatially Extended, and its Metaphysical Correlate	94	(27)
The Phenomenal Relation of ``Spatially Between'', Its Metaphysical Basis, and Density as a Property of the Spatially Extended	121	(13)
Time, Phenomenal Change, and Monadic Change	134	(19)
Formalization of the Third Model as it Refers to Density of Monadic and Phenomenal Change	153	(5)
Actual Infinity and the Leibnizian Solution to the Problem of the Composition of the Continuum	158	(17)
Bibliography	175	(8)
Index	183