Leibniz: Representation, Continuity and the Spatiotemporal

ISBN-13: 9780792354765 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 195 str.

Dionysios Anapolitanos; D. a. Anapolitanos

Opis

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.

Recenzje

`... the interested reader will find this book to be a precious and illuminating tool for tackling Leibniz's philosophical and physico-mathematical ideas.'
Mathematical Reviews, 2000f

Spis treści

Preface. Abbreviations. I: Representationalism. A. The General Setting. B. Representations and Relations. C. Indirect Representations. D. Perception. E. Distinct, Confused, Petite, and Unconscious Perceptions. II: Continuity. A. The Principle of Continuity and its Relation to other Leibnizian Principles. B. Kinds of Continuity and Apparent Cases of Discontinuity. C. Density and Sequential or Cauchy Completeness. D. The Role of Continuity in the Formation of the Leibnizian System. III: Space, Time, the Spatio-Temporal, and Monadic Reality. A. Space, the Spatially Exended, and its Metaphysical Correlate. B. The Phenomenal Relation of `Spatially Between', its Metaphysical Basis, and Density as a Property of the Spatially Extended. C. Time, Phenomenal Change, and Monadic Change. D. Formalization of the Third Model as it Refers to Density of Monadic and Phenomenal Change. E. Actual Infinity and the Leibnizian Solution to the Problem of the Composition of the Continuum. Bibliography. Index.