Leibniz's principle of identity of indiscernibles / Gonzalo Rodríguez-Pereyra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rodriguez-Pereyra, Gonzalo, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716.

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Physical Description:

viii, 215 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra presents an original study of the place and role of the Identity of Indiscernibles in Leibniz's philosophy. The Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles rules out numerically distinct but perfectly similar things; Leibniz derived it from more basic principles and used it to establish important philosophical theses. Rodriguez-Pereyra aims to establish what Leibniz meant by the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles, what his arguments for and from it were, and to assess those arguments and Leibniz's claims about the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles. He argues that Leibniz had a very strong version of the principle, according to which no possibilia (whether or not they belong to the same possible world) are intrinsically perfectly similar, where this excludes things that differ in magnitude alone. The book discusses Leibniz's arguments for the Identity of Indiscernibles in A Meditation on the Principle of the Individual, the Discourse on Metaphysics, Notationes Generales, Primary Truths, the letter to Casati of 1689, the correspondence with Clarke, as well as the use of the Identity of Indiscernibles in Leibniz's arguments against the Cartesian conception of the material world, atoms, absolute space and time, the Lockean conception of the mind as a tabula rasa, and freedom of indifference. Rodriguez-Pereyra argues that the Identity of Indiscernibles was a central but inessential principle of Leibniz's philosophy. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 The meaning and status of the Identity of Indiscernibles 15

3 Some early texts 38

4 The Discourse on Metaphysics and Notationes Generates 51

5 Primary Truths 70

6 Leibniz's letter to Casati Appendix: Translation of the letter 84

7 Indiscernible possibilia and the perfection of the world 93

8 The correspondence with Clarke 104

9 Necessity revisited 118

10 The Cartesian material world 127

11 Atoms 145

12 Space and time 157

13 Minds 170

14 Accidents 185

15 Conclusion 200.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780198712664

0198712669

OCLC:

893874935