Monads, composition, and force : Ariadnean threads through Leibniz's labyrinth / Richard T.W. Arthur.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arthur, Richard, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm.

Monadology.

Physical Description:

xv, 329 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Summary:

"Leibniz's monads have long been a source of fascination and puzzlement. If monads are merely immaterial, how can they alone constitute reality? In Monads, Composition and Force, Richard T. W. Arthur takes seriously Leibniz's claim of introducing monads to solve the problem of the composition of matter and motion. Going against a trend of idealistic interpretations of Leibniz's thought, Arthur argues that although monads are presupposed as the principles making actual each of the infinite parts of matter, bodies are not composed of them. He offers a fresh interpretation of Leibniz's theory of substance in which monads are enduring primitive forces, corporeal substances are embodied monads, and bodies are aggregates of monads, not mere appearances. In this reading the monads are constitutive unities, constituting an organic unity of function through time, and bodies are phenomenal in two senses; as ever-changing things they are Platonic phenomena and as pluralities, in being perceived together, they are also Democritean phenomena. Arthur argues for this reading by describing how Leibniz's thought is grounded in seventeenth century atomism and the metaphysics of the plurality of forms, showing how his attempt to make this foundation compatible with mechanism undergirds his insightful contributions to biological science and the dynamical foundations he provides for modern physics."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Composition and Division p. 24

1.1 Physical Monadologies p. 26

1.2 Monads as Actual Parts p. 32

1.3 Actually Infinite Division p. 39

2 Aggregation, Body, and Substance p. 49

2.1 Bodies as Aggregates of Substances p. 50

2.2 The Problem of Corporeal Substances p. 61

2.3 'Being in', Presupposition, and Aggregation p. 69

3 Atoms and Souls p. 85

3.1 The Enigma of Leibniz's Atomism p. 86

3.2 Leibniz and the Chymical Tradition p. 102

3.3 Atoms, Souls, and Traduction p. 116

4 Forms and the Scholastic Tradition p. 129

4.1 Preformation, Seeds, and Material Souls p. 130

4.2 The Origin of Forms p. 149

4.3 Teleology and the Rehabilitation of Substantial Forms p. 162

5 Motion, Relativity, and Force p. 178

5.1 Endeavour as the Foundation of Motion p. 179

5.2 Relativity and the Subject of Motion p. 196

5.3 Active Force and the Cause of Motion p. 205

6 Passive Force and Corporeal Substance p. 219

6.1 The Status of Passive Force p. 221

6.2 Extension and Corporeal Substance p. 229

6.3 Substantial Bonds p. 237

7 Continuance through Time p. 254

7.1 Divine Concurrence and Continuous Creation p. 255

7.2 Monads as Temporal Continuants p. 269

7.3 The Law of Continuity, Moments, and Derivative Force p. 276.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [307]-320) and index.

ISBN:

9780198812869

0198812868

OCLC:

1028215926