Questions tagged [leibniz]
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz (1646 - 1716) was a German philosopher, logician and mathematician. He is associated with rationalism and the calculus.
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Is the universe 'necessarily' contingent?
My question arises from a debate I had seen between Mohammed Hijabi and Alex O'Connell (the debate) where it seems like Hijabi was admitting to the fact that all contingent things must come from and ...
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Where does Leibniz discuss the value of variety?
I believe that I remember that Leibniz put strong value upon the varieties found in the world, e.g. as between human cultures and in nature. What are some good references for this?
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Leibniz, beginning of Principles of Nature and Grace
What did Leibniz mean at the beginning of "Principles of Nature and Grace," when he said, "Substance is a being capable of action." Afterall, a rock is made of substances, but it ...
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How do Leibniz' possible-worlds model and Heisenberg's view of microphysics relate to each other?
In his answer to a former question @IoannisPaizis presents a quote of Heisenberg from his book Physics and Philosophy
The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not as real; they
form a world ...
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Is the universe necessary?
The Contingency Argument of Leibniz states that if the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God. This introduces metaphysics. But could the fundamental fabric of spacetime ...
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Infinitesimals and plural quantification
In reply to, "Does nature jump?" Mikhail Katz notes that:
There is a different idea in Leibniz called the Law of Continuity. One of its formulations is
the rules of the finite are found to ...
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Are there similar theory to Nikolay Bugaev's idea of "emergent morality"?
I need someone's insight to put into perspective the thoughts of an author I discovered only recently. Although this author's idea seems very intuitive - the kind of idea you might have as a child or ...
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Leibniz is famous for claiming that this is the best of all possible worlds. Did he explain how it is that we keep making it better via technology?
In his "Theodicy" (if I am not mistaken), Gottfried Leibniz famously claimed that this is the best of all possible worlds. Doesn't that imply that making the world a better place by ...
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Successfully mapping qualia to the physical?
So physicalists seem to often try to map qualia to something physical but then run into the problem:
Leibniz’s argument seems to be this: the visitor of the machine, upon
entering it, would observe ...
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Is actual always actualized from virtual in Deleuze's philosophy of virtuality?
In Deleuze's essay "The Actual and the Virtual," he discusses his concept of actual and virtual. In particular, he writes about Leibniz's view that force is virtual until it is actualized in ...
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References to "Nos" in "Philosophical Papers and Letters" by Leibniz, edited by Loemker
Does anyone know what text is being referenced here. There are many times they cite like (Nos. 5,6,7) but there is no reference to this text in the bibliography, nor anywhere in the text. Google ...
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Does the Principle of Sufficient Reason imply everything is necessary?
Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) states that: for every fact F, there must be a sufficient reason why F is the case (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sufficient-reason/#WhatSuffReas). ...
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What is this 3rd viewpoint on Absolute and Relational Space known as?
So I've been obsessing about absolute and relative motion:
What is the nature of motion in physical theories and theorizing, and
is there any significance to the distinction between ‘absolute’ and
‘...
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Brute facts and the burden of proof
I'm trying my best to understand Della Rocca's article "PSR", which I believe convincingly shows that that one cannot reasonably hold that some facts are brute while others are not without a ...
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Leibniz's Relational Philosophy and Boundaries?
Leibniz stated:
"Thus committed to maintaining that if there were nothing more to motion than relative change of position, then, since motion could be ascribed with equal right to, say, Train A ...
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