Overview
- Presents cutting-edge research on the topic of Leibniz studies
- A unique book, the first to be exclusively devoted to this topic
- Posits two of Leibniz’s best-known claims and scrutinizes them from a variety of perspectives
Part of the book series: The New Synthese Historical Library (SYNL, volume 75)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- Compossibility and Cosmological Interpretation
- Compossibility and the Unity of Divine Will
- Harmony and Compossibility
- Incompossibility and incompatibility in Leibniz
- Leibniz and monads
- Leibnizian Possible Worlds
- Principle of Sufficient Reason
- logical interpretation
- lawful interpretation
- packing strategy
About this book
This volume brings together a number of original articles by leading Leibniz scholars to address the meaning and significance of Leibniz’s notions of compossibility and possible worlds. In order to avoid the conclusion that everything that exists is necessary, or that all possibles are actual, as Spinoza held, Leibniz argued that not all possible substances are compossible, that is, capable of coexisting. In Leibniz’s view, the compossibility relation divides all possible substances into disjoint sets, each of which constitutes a possible world, or a way that God might have created things. For Leibniz, then, it is the compossibility relation that individuates possible worlds; and possible worlds form the objects of God’s choice, from among which he chooses the best for creation. Thus the notions of compossibility and possible worlds are of major significance for Leibniz’s metaphysics, his theodicy, and, ultimately, for his ethics.
Given the fact, however, that none ofthe approaches to understanding Leibniz’s notions of compossibility and possible words suggested to date have gained universal acceptance, the goal of this book is to gather a body of new papers that explore ways of either refining previous interpretations in light of the objections that have been raised against them, or ways of framing new interpretations that will contribute to a fresh understanding of these key notions in Leibniz’s thought.
Reviews
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Gregory Brown is professor of Philosophy at The University of Houston, Texas. Brown has published numerous articles in the History of Philosophy and in the Philosophy of Leibniz. His papers have appeared in journals such as The Leibniz Society Review, The Journal of the History of Philosophy, and The British Journal for the History of Philosophy. His research interests are The History of Early-Modern Philosophy, and the History and Philosophy of Science.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Leibniz on Compossibility and Possible Worlds
Editors: Gregory Brown, Yual Chiek
Series Title: The New Synthese Historical Library
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42695-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-42693-8Published: 04 January 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-82638-7Published: 12 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-42695-2Published: 27 December 2016
Series ISSN: 1879-8578
Series E-ISSN: 2352-2585
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 256
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Philosophy, Metaphysics, Modern Philosophy