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metafysica. --- Sironi, Mario.

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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.

Philosophy --- Metaphysics --- History of philosophy --- filosofie --- geschiedenis --- metafysica

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Can the straight line be analysed mathematically such that it does not fall apart into a set of discrete points, as is usually done but through which its fundamental continuity is lost? And are there objects of pure mathematics that can change through time? The mathematician and philosopher L.E.J. Brouwer argued that the two questions are closely related and that the answer to both is "yes''. To this end he introduced a new kind of object into mathematics, the choice sequence. But other mathematicians and philosophers have been voicing objections to choice sequences from the start. This book aims to provide a sound philosophical basis for Brouwer's choice sequences by subjecting them to a phenomenological critique in the style of the later Husserl. "It is almost as if one could hear the two rebels arguing their case in a European café or on a terrace, and coming to a common understanding, with both men taking their hat off to the other, in admiration and gratitude. Dr. van Atten has convincingly applied Husserl's method to Brouwer's program, and has equally convincingly applied Brouwer's intuition to Husserl's program. Both programs have come out the better." Piet Hut, professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, U.S.A.

Philosophy --- Metaphysics --- Mathematical logic --- filosofie --- existentialisme --- fenomenologie --- metafysica --- wiskunde --- logica

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The empirical successes of atomic, nuclear, and particle physics have not reduced -- and may never fully resolve -- the philosophical controversies about the inner constitution of matter. This book examines these debates by exploring the particle concept in physics. Are the particles of modern physics "real" or are they fictitious entities, their existence deduced merely by the careless application of abstract theories? Or are the philosophers involved in the debate about "scientific realism" dedicating themselves to a problem that has long been solved by physicists? Studies of the experimental basis and theoretical relevance of the particle concept reveal that these questions are far from easy to answer, because, since the introduction of quantum theory, physical science no longer possesses a single unambiguous particle concept. All those interested in the "true meaning" of such physical concepts will find this book informative and thought provoking. It is written at a level accessible to scholars, students and teachers of science and philosophy.

Philosophy --- Metaphysics --- Quantum mechanics. Quantumfield theory --- Elementary particles --- elementaire deeltjes --- quantumfysica --- filosofie --- metafysica

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Man as a Place of God is an examination of Levinas' philosophy of religion in the light of his ethics and anthropology. It provides a lively introduction to the main themes of Levinas' thought and offers critical perspectives on Levinas by relating his work to that of Heidegger, Ricoeur, Rorty, Derrida and Vattimo. The focus of interpretation is the hermeneutics of ˜kenosis': the subject's ability to be open towards the other to the point where man can be seen as a place of ˜God', a place where the infinite attains to finite existence. Does this mean that the kenotic subject totally disappears from the arena of his own life, to reach out for a sublime existence that is no longer of ˜this world' - as in the philosophy of Plato, Plotinus and certain mystical thinkers? This book will argue the reverse: the kenotic sublimity developed by Levinas is in keeping with ethics, and even with concrete acts of responsibility. Also, it refers to a certain idea of God, who comes into being in a ˜kenotic' way: by giving himself in the ethical experience of man and woman, regardless of their culture and religious beliefs.

Philosophy --- Metaphysics --- General ethics --- Religious studies --- ethiek --- filosofie --- godsdienstfilosofie --- existentialisme --- metafysica