LEIBNIZ ON BODIES AND INFINITIES: RERUM NATURA AND MATHEMATICAL FICTIONS

DOI10.1017/S1755020321000575MaRDI QIDQ6131222zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Mikhail G. Katz, Karl Kuhlemann, David Sherry, Monica Ugaglia

Publication date 4 April 2024

Published in The Review of Symbolic Logic (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.08155

zbMATH Keywords

Leibnizian metaphysicsWallisVarignonuseful fictionThomasiussubstancemultitudemonadMassonmagnitudeAristotleLeibnizinfinityinfinitesimalsinfinitesimal calculusinassignable quantitiesHuygensdes BossesbodyBernoulli

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 17th century (01A45)

Abstract: The way Leibniz applied his philosophy to mathematics has been the subject of longstanding debates. A key piece of evidence is his letter to Masson on bodies. We offer an interpretation of this often misunderstood text, dealing with the status of infinite divisibility in nature, rather than in mathematics. In line with this distinction, we offer a reading of the fictionality of infinitesimals. The letter has been claimed to support a reading of infinitesimals according to which they are logical fictions, contradictory in their definition, and thus absolutely impossible. The advocates of such a reading have lumped infinitesimals with infinite wholes, which are rejected by Leibniz as contradicting the part-whole principle. Far from supporting this reading, the letter is arguably consistent with the view that infinitesimals, as inassignable quantities, are mentis fictiones, i.e., (well-founded) fictions usable in mathematics, but possibly contrary to the Leibnizian principle of the harmony of things and not necessarily idealizing anything in rerum natura. Unlike infinite wholes, infinitesimals - as well as imaginary roots and other well-founded fictions - may involve accidental (as opposed to absolute) impossibilities, in accordance with the Leibnizian theories of knowledge and modality.

Recommendations

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Cited in

(3)

• Two-track depictions of Leibniz's fictions
• Episodes from the history of infinitesimals
• A note on mathematical infinity in Leibniz

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