The Science of the Individual: Leibniz's Ontology of Individual Substance

416 Pages·2005·9.935 MB·English

by  Stefano Di Bella (auth.), Ermanno Bencivenga, Daniel Berthold-Bond, William James Earle, Ann Ferguson, David Lloyd (eds.)

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THE SCIENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL: LEIBNIZ’S
ONTOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL SUBSTANCE
TOPOILIBRARY
VVVOLUME6
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WWWilliamJamesEarle,BaruchCollege,CityUniversityofNewYork,NewYork,U.S.A.
AnnFerguson,UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst,U.S.A.
DavidLloyd,ScrippsCollege,Claremont,U.S.A.
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THE SCIENCE OF THE
INDIVIDUAL: LEIBNIZ’S
ONTOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL
SUBSTANCE
by
STEFANODIBELLA
ScuolaNormaleSuperiore,Pisa,Italy
AC.I.P.CataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress.
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3259-2(HB)SpringerDordrecht,Berlin,Heidelberg,NewYork
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ISBN-10 1-4020-3260-9(e-book)SpringerDordrecht,Berlin,Heidelberg,NewYork
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“Thereisnoface...whosecontourdoesnotformpartofageomet-
ric curve and cannot be drawn in one stroke by a certain regular
movement.”
(((Discoursdemétaphysique,§6,AVI.4,1538).
“But never can we reach by way of analysis the most universal
laws[ofourworld],northemostexhaustiverationalexplanation
ofsingularthings.Necessarily,indeed,thisknowledgeisreserved
toGodalone.”
(((Denaturaveritatis,contingentiaeetindifferentiae,AVI.4,1518)
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. Individual Substance in the Discourse Metaphysics:
SomeProblems 1
PartI. TheGenesisofaCompleteBeing
Section1. IndividualsandConceptsattheOriginsofLeibniz’sProject 23
(cid:1)
Chapter1. AWorldofIndividuals:ParticularistOntology 23 Chapter2.
(cid:1)
AWWWorldofConcepts:CombinatorialScienceandtheIndividual 33
Chapter3. AbstractionandPredication:AttheBoundaryofConceptsand
Things 44
Section2. OrigoRerumexFormis
The(Onto-)logicalConstructionofaWorldfromConceptualAtomism
toIndividualSubstance 55
(cid:1)
Chapter1. “Mirares,aliudessesubjectumquamformasseuattributa” 55
(cid:1)
1.1 ARediscoveryofSubject 55 1.2 Attributes:TheClashofParadigms
(cid:1) (cid:1)
61 Chapter2. ModesandRequisites:TheGenesisofFiniteThings 72
(cid:1) (cid:1)
2.1 Modes 72 2.2 Conditions,CausesandReasons 77 Chapter3. Ens
Completum:TheEmergenceofCompleteBeing 88
Section3. SeriesRerum
TheCausal-TemporalStructureofThings:ModelMetaphysics
andPhilosophyofMind 99
Chapter1. Deaffectibus:FromtheDynamicsofPassionstotheSeriesof
(cid:1) (cid:1)
SubstanceStates 99 Chapter2. SubjectofAction 111 Chapter3.
SubjectandTime:TheBirthofaContinuant 117
viii CONTENTS
Interlude.OnTruth 129
(cid:1)
Chapter1. TheDoubleRootofTruth 131 Chapter2. Fundamentum
(cid:1)
VVVeritatis 137 Chapter3. ConceptualContainment 144
PartII. ALogico-OntologicalFrameworkforSubstances
Section 4. Categories (1). Concepts, Things and the Reform of the
CategoryTable 155
(cid:1)
0 IntroductiontotheCategoryTables 155 Chapter1. VVVarietas.Identity
(cid:1)
forConceptsandThings:TheGeneralFramework 161 1.1 Substitution
(cid:1)
andConceptIdentity 161 1.2 SamenessandChange:The
(cid:1)
PhenomenologicalApproach 169 1.3 DiscernibilityandCategorization:
(cid:1)
IdentityforAbstractObjects 173 Chapter2. Concepts,Thingsandthe
(cid:1) (cid:1)
GrammarofSubstance 179 2.1 ThingsandTerms 179 2.2 The
GrammarofSubstance:FromAbstractTermstoCompleteBeing 184
Section5. CompleteConceptandSubstance
TheNewAllianceofConceptandThing 197
(cid:1)
Chapter1. CompleteConcepts 197 Chapter2. ConceptualIndividuation:
(cid:1)
CompleteConceptandtheIdentityofIndiscernibles 206 2.1 The
(cid:1) (cid:1)
“Paradoxes”ofIdInd 206 2.2 IndividualsasInfimaeSpecies 214
Chapter3. ConceptualIndividuation:CompleteConceptandTranstemporal
(cid:1) (cid:1)
Identity 218 3.1 AConceptInvolvingChange 218 3.2 Concept,
(cid:1)
EssenceandtheSubjectofChange 226 Post-Script.TwentyYearsLater:
DeVolder(andOthers)FacingIndividualConcept 235
Section6. Categories(2).TheTheoryofConditionsintheCategorial
Framework 239
(cid:1)
Chapter1. Consequentiae.ATheoryofCausalTemporalOrder 239
Chapter2. ConditionsandInherence:AnOntologyforPredication 248
PartIII. NotioCompleta.CompleteConceptandIndividualHistory
Section7. TheDebateonDM13:SomeLeadingIdeas 265
(cid:1)
Chapter1. CompleteConceptsinGodand/orinThemselves 266
(cid:1)
Chapter2. Compactness 274 Chapter3. Completeness 285
Section8. ScientiaDei.IndividualConceptsinGod’sMind 301
Chapter1. TruthmakersfortheFuture:CompleteConceptsandFuture
(cid:1)
Contingents 301 Chapter2. ConditionalTruthsandPossibleDecrees 309
CONTENTS ix
Section9. Law,ConceptandWorld
TheNomologicalandRelationalStructureofCompleteConcepts 325
(cid:1)
Chapter1. Laws,WorldsandConcepts 325 Chapter2. Conceptual
Holism.TheIndividualandHis/HerWorld 338
Post-Script1.IndividualConceptsandtheInfinitarySolution 353
Post-Script2.IndividualConceptsandLeibniz’sMetaphysics
ofHistory 359
Substances,ConceptsandIndividualEssences.SomeConcluding
Remarks 365
(cid:1)
Chapter1. CompleteBeingsandtheirConcepts 366 Chapter2. ANew
(cid:1)
Essentialism 373 Chapter3. AnalogiesforaStrangeConcept:Complete
(cid:1)
Concepts,DynamicsandPhilosophyofMind 381 Chapter4. Building
(cid:1)
CompleteConcepts:Substance-andConceptStructure 384 Chapter5.
TheQuasi-ScienceofIndividuals 391
Bibliography 393
IndexofNames 405
IndexofLeibnizTextsCited 409
Acknowledgments
IwishtothankherethemanypersonsIhavemetduringmyresearchonLeib-
niz,myinterestonthistopichavingbegunabouttwentyyearsago.Heinrich
Schepershasbeenanextremelygenerousandhelpfulhostduringmystaysat
theLeibniz-ForschungsstelleoftheUniversityofMu¨¨nster,andheintroduced
me to the secrets of Leibniz’s manuscripts. Needless to say, we owe him the
masterlyeditionofvolumeAVI.4ofAcademyedition,embracingthedeci-
siveyearsfortheworkingoutofLeibniz’smaturemetaphysics,andincluding
alotofearlierunpublisheddraftsIcommentoninmywork.MassimoMugnai
guidedmeintheworkformydoctoralthesisonLeibniz,aseedforthisbook,
andisuptonowaconstantpresenceaccompanyingmyLeibnizianinterests.
I have discussed this work with him at different stages of elaboration. I re-
ceived also precious comments on my manuscript from Robert M. Adams
andNicholasJolley.Iamtheonlyoneresponsible,ofcourse,foranyflawsin
my work. Besides this, I profited from some discussions on these and other
Leibnizian topics with Fabrizio Mondadori, Daniel Garber, Michel Fichant,
FrancescoPiroandEnricoPasini.Mybibliographyshouldbearwitnesstomy
intellectualdebttootherscholarswhohavewrittenstimulatingcontributions
tothistopicinrecentyears.Ihadalsotheopportunityofpresentinganddis-
cussing some parts of this work in conferences and seminars at the Scuola
NormaleinPisaandattheuniversitiesofPadua,IrvineandEdinburgh.Iam
grateful to all participants to these discussions, in particular—besides some
Leibniz-scholarsIhavealreadymentioned—ErmannoBencivenga,Nicholas
White,TheodoreScaltsas,KitFine,MassimilianoCarrara.
DuringmyvisitstoGermany,IalsogainedfromthekindhelpofHerbert
BregerattheLeibnizArchivinHanoverandfromsomestimulatingcontacts
withHansPoserandMartinSchneider.Iwishalsotothankthepeopleofthe
Leibniz-Forschungsstelle in Mu¨¨nster, especially Gerhard Biller and Herma
Kliege-Biller,fortheirfriendlyreadinesstohelpanItalianguest.Aboveall,
IrememberwithgratitudethelateAlbertHeinekamp,whoreceivedmeasa