Ohad Nachtomy

Technion

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On Three Degrees of Infinity in Leibniz's Metaphysics

In this talk I will try to summarize Leibniz’s use of infinity in his metaphysics. The presentation will follow (more or less) my argument in Living Mirrors (OUP, 2019) and seek to shed some light on the following questions: (1) how to account for Leibniz’s pervasive use of infinity while he argues that the notion of infinite number is contradictory? (2) On what grounds does Leibniz defend the notion of infinite being when he rejects the notion of infinite number? (3) How are we to understand Leibniz’s distinction between three degrees of infinity — omnia, maximum in kind, tantum infinitum? I approach these questions by distinguishing between quantitative and non-quantitative notions of infinity — and, possibly, an intermediate degree between them, so that omnia refers to God’s infinity; maximum in its kind to infinite aspects in created beings, and tantum infinitum to infinite beings of reason, such as mathematical series.

התכנסות לקפה וכיבוד קל בשעה 17:45, ליד חדר 449.

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