1 option
Matter matters : metaphysics and methodology in the early modern period / Kurt Smith.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Smith, Kurt, 1961- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Descartes, René, 1596-1650.
- Descartes, René.
- Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716.
- Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm.
- Matter.
- Metaphysics--History--17th century.
- Metaphysics.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (x, 299 pages) : illustrations
- Other Title:
- Metaphysics and methodology in the early modern period
- Place of Publication:
- New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2010.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Why is there a material world? Why is it fundamentally mathematical? Matter Matters explores a seventeenth-century answer to these questions as it emerged from the works of Descartes and Leibniz. The 'mathematization' of the physics is shown to have been conceptually underwritten by two methods of philosophizing, namely, analysis and synthesis. The connection between these things-mathematics, matter, and the methods of analysis and synthesis-has thus far gone unexplored byscholars. The book is in four Parts: Part I works out the context in which the theory of modern matter arose. Part II devel
- Contents:
- Preliminaries : the context of modern matter. The visible and the intelligible
- Plato's early and late methods
- Matter and division
- Analysis. Analysis and clarity and distinctness
- A general theory of clarity and distinctness
- The general theory continued
- Enumeration, quantity, and measurement
- Synthesis. Synthesis and system building
- Synthesis and the principle of addition
- Metaphysics, mathematics, and metaphor
- Material structure and calculating machines
- How analysis and synthesis are related
- Sensible and intelligible matter. Is matter real?
- Empirical ideality, reality, and matter
- Empirical reality and intelligible matter
- Transcendental matter
- Tying up the loose ends : closing remarks.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-295) and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
- ISBN:
- 0-19-966470-6
- 1-282-54463-2
- 9786612544637
- 0-19-157691-3
- OCLC:
- 649832232
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.