Possibility, Agency, and Individuality in Leibniz's Metaphysics

ISBN-13: 9789048173198 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 272 str.

Ohad Nachtomy

Opis

Leibniz s notion of possibility is one of his most significant contributions to philosophy as well as one of the cornerstones of his metaphysics. This work attempts to bring out the intrinsic subtlety of Leibniz s approach to possibility and to explore some of its important repercussions in his metaphysics. This project involves an examination of some of the most difficult questions in Leibniz s metaphysics from this vantage point. The book consists of three parts, the first focusing on Leibniz s notion of possibility, the second on his notion of agency, and the third on his notion of individuality. Leibniz s preoccupation with the notions of possibility, agency and individuality is evident in his early writings as well as in his later ones. His combinatorial insights regarding the notion of possibility as a model for creating the world, his commitment to the traditional doctrine that activity constitutes being, and his view that individuals are the only true beings are among the formative and persisting tenets of his metaphysics. This work explores these tenets in some detail and seeks to highlight the connections between them. The first part of the book presents Leibniz s approach to possibility by exposing his early presuppositions about the status and nature of possibilities (chapter 1); his notion of possible individuals (chapter 2); and his notion of possible worlds as constituted by the relations among possible individuals (chapters 3 and 4). The second part discusses the transition from possibility to actuality through the notion of agency."

Recenzje

"This book should certainly be read by scholars interested in Leibniz's philosophy, but also by those interested in metaphysical topics in the history of modern philosophy." (Christian Leduc, Princeton University, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 17:4, 2009)

"What is outstanding about this book is the clear line of analysis connecting Leibniz's views on possibilia in the divine mind with the determinants of contingent simple substances in the actual world. Nachtomy applies a similar analytic approach to the notions of complex substances and living beings, thus unveiling a new systemic configuration of Leibniz's metaphysics and philosophy of nature." (François Duchesneau, Université de Montréal)

Spis treści

Leibniz’s Combinatorial Approach to Possibility.- Possible Individuals.- The Individual’s Place in Logical Space.- Individuals, Worlds and Relations.- Possibility and Actuality.- Agency and Freedom.- Agency and Necessity.- Aggregates.- Nested Individuals.- Possibility and Individuality.

O autorze

Ohad Nachtomy is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.

Blurb

This work presents Leibniz’s subtle approach to possibility and explores some of its consequential repercussions in his metaphysics. Ohad Nachtomy presents Leibniz’s approach to possibility by exposing his early suppositions, arguing that he held a combinatorial conception of possibility. He considers the transition from possibility to actuality through the notion of agency; the role divine agency plays in actualization; moral agency and human freedom of action and the relation between agency and necessity in comparison to Spinoza. Nachtomy analyzes Leibniz’s notion of nested, organic individuals and their peculiar unity, in distinction from his notion of aggregates.

Nachtomy suggests that Leibniz defined possible individuals through combinatorial rules that generate unique and maximally consistent structures of predicates in God’s understanding and that such rules may be viewed as programs for action. He uses this definition to clarify Leibniz’s notions of individuation, relations and his distinction between individual substances and aggregates as well as the notion of organic individuals, which have a nested structure to infinity. Nachtomy concludes that Leibniz’s definition of a possible individual as a program of action helps clarifying the unity and simplicity of nested individuals. The book thus reveals a thread that runs through Leibniz’s metaphysics: from his logical notion of possible individuals to his notion of actual, nested ones.