Infinity in Early Modern Philosophy

Description

This volume contains essays that examine infinity in early modern philosophy. The essays not only consider the ways that key figures viewed the concept. They also detail how these different beliefs about infinity influenced major philosophical systems throughout the era. These domains include mathematics, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, science, and theology. Coverage begins with an introduction that outlines the overall importance of infinity to early modern philosophy. It then moves from a general background of infinity (before early modern thought) up through Kant. Readers will learn about the place of infinity in the writings of key early modern thinkers. The contributors profile the work of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant. Debates over infinity significantly influenced philosophical discussion regarding the human condition and the extent and limits of human knowledge. Questions about the infinity of space, for instance, helped lead to the introduction of a heliocentric solar system as well as the discovery of calculus. This volume offers readers an insightful look into all this and more. It provides a broad perspective that will help advance the present state of knowledge on this important but often overlooked topic. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction: Infinity in Early Modern Philosophy (Ohad Nachtomy, Reed Winegar)....Pages 1-8 Descartes’s ens summe perfectum et infinitum and its Scholastic Background (Igor Agostini)....Pages 9-25 The Ontic and the Iterative: Descartes on the Infinite and the Indefinite (Anat Schechtman)....Pages 27-44 Descartes on the Infinity of Space vs. Time (Geoffrey Gorham)....Pages 45-61 “A Substance Consisting of an Infinity of Attributes”: Spinoza on the Infinity of Attributes (Yitzhak Y. Melamed)....Pages 63-75 Infinity in Spinoza’s Therapy of the Passions (Sanja Särman)....Pages 77-95 The Road to Finite Modes in Spinoza’s Ethics (Noa Shein)....Pages 97-114 All the Forms of Matter: Leibniz, Regis and the World’s Infinity (Mogens Lærke)....Pages 115-129 Leibniz’s Early Encounters with Descartes, Galileo, and Spinoza on Infinity (Ohad Nachtomy)....Pages 131-154 Leibniz’s Syncategorematic Actual Infinite (Richard T. W. Arthur)....Pages 155-179 The Infinite Given Magnitude and Other Myths About Space and Time (Paul Guyer)....Pages 181-204 Back Matter ....Pages 205-211