Possibility, Agency, and Individuality in Leibniz's Metaphysics

This work presents Leibniz’s subtle approach to possibility and explores some of its consequential repercussions in his metaphysics. Ohad Nachtomy presents Leibniz’s approach to possibility by exposing his early suppositions, arguing that he held a combinatorial conception of possibility. He conside...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nachtomy, Ohad
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2007, 2007
Edition:1st ed. 2007
Series:The New Synthese Historical Library, Texts and Studies in the History of Philosophy
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Springer eBooks 2005- - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02866nmm a2200325 u 4500
001 EB000358822
003 EBX01000000000000000211874
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 130626 ||| eng
020 |a 9781402052453 
100 1 |a Nachtomy, Ohad 
245 0 0 |a Possibility, Agency, and Individuality in Leibniz's Metaphysics  |h Elektronische Ressource  |c by Ohad Nachtomy 
250 |a 1st ed. 2007 
260 |a Dordrecht  |b Springer Netherlands  |c 2007, 2007 
300 |a XII, 272 p  |b online resource 
505 0 |a Leibniz’s Combinatorial Approach to Possibility -- Possible Individuals -- The Individual’s Place in Logical Space -- Individuals, Worlds and Relations -- Possibility and Actuality -- Agency and Freedom -- Agency and Necessity -- Aggregates -- Nested Individuals -- Possibility and Individuality 
653 |a Metaphysics 
653 |a Philosophy, Modern 
653 |a Philosophy / History 
653 |a Early Modern Philosophy 
653 |a History of Philosophy 
653 |a Philosophy 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b Springer  |a Springer eBooks 2005- 
490 0 |a The New Synthese Historical Library, Texts and Studies in the History of Philosophy 
028 5 0 |a 10.1007/978-1-4020-5245-3 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5245-3?nosfx=y  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 109 
520 |a This work presents Leibniz’s subtle approach to possibility and explores some of its consequential repercussions in his metaphysics. Ohad Nachtomy presents Leibniz’s approach to possibility by exposing his early suppositions, arguing that he held a combinatorial conception of possibility. He considers the transition from possibility to actuality through the notion of agency; the role divine agency plays in actualization; moral agency and human freedom of action and the relation between agency and necessity in comparison to Spinoza. Nachtomy analyzes Leibniz’s notion of nested, organic individuals and their peculiar unity, in distinction from his notion of aggregates. Nachtomy suggests that Leibniz defined possible individuals through combinatorial rules that generate unique and maximally consistent structures of predicates in God’s understanding and that such rules may be viewed as programs for action. He uses this definition to clarify Leibniz’s notions of individuation, relations and his distinction between individual substances and aggregates as well as the notion of organic individuals, which have a nested structure to infinity. Nachtomy concludes that Leibniz’s definition of a possible individual as a program of action helps clarifying the unity and simplicity of nested individuals. The book thus reveals a thread that runs through Leibniz’s metaphysics: from his logical notion of possible individuals to his notion of actual, nested ones