Living Mirrors: Infinity, Unity, and Life in Leibniz's Philosophy

by Ohad Nachtomy

Overview

In Living Mirrors, Ohad Nachtomy examines Leibniz's attempt to "re-enchant" the natural world-that is, to infuse life, purpose, and value into the very foundations of nature, a nature that Leibniz saw as disenchanted by Descartes' and Spinoza's more naturalistic and mechanistic theories. Nachtomy sees Leibniz's nuanced view of infinity- how it differs in the divine as well as human spheres, and its relationship to numerical and metaphysical unity-as key in this effort. Leibniz defined living beings by means of an infinite nested structure particular to what he called "natural machines"-and for him, an intermediate kind of infinity is the defining feature of living beings. Using a metaphor of a "living mirror," Leibniz put forth infinity as crucial to explaining the unity of a living being as well as the harmony between the infinitely small and the infinitely large; in this way, employing infinity and unity, we can better understand life itself, both as a metaphysical principle and as an empirical fact. Nachtomy's sophisticated and novel treatment of the essential themes in Leibniz's work will not only interest Leibniz scholars, but scholars of early modern philosophy and students of the history of philosophy and science as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190907327
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/29/2019
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ohad Nachtomy is Professor of Philosophy at Bar-Ilan University and a visiting member of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University. His recent books are The Life Sciences in Early Modern Philosophy (OUP 2014) and Machines of Nature and Corporeal Substances in Leibniz (2010), both coedited with Justin E. H. Smith; and Possibility, Agency, and Individuality in Leibniz's Metaphysics (2007).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction: What Does Infinity Have to do with Life?

Chapter 1: Introducing the Main Characters: A Conceptual Outline of Leibniz's Approach to Infinity
Chapter 2: Leibniz in Paris: Between Infinite Number and Infinite Being
Chapter 3: Leibniz Reads Spinoza: Different Senses and Different Degrees of Infinity
Chapter 4: Infinity and Unity: Mathematics and Metaphysics
Chapter 5: Infinity and Life: A Sketch of Leibniz's Development
Chapter 6: Animate and Inanimate Things, Natural and Artificial Machines
Chapter 7: Living Mirrors and Mites: Leibniz and Pascal
Chapter 8: Created Beings as Infinite and Limited
Chapter 9: Monads at the Bottom, Monads at the Top, Monads All Over
Chapter 10: Life, Force, and Infinity
Conclusion: The Re-enchantment of Nature

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"...the book constitutes a valuable contribution to Leibniz studies. In connecting Leibniz's discussions of infinity and life, Nachtomy's book helpfully reconsiders Leibniz's metaphysics in light of the recent progress scholars have made in understanding Leibniz's views on the nature of life and vital processes. Living Mirrors will therefore benefit and provide much food for thought for all readers of Leibniz." — Christopher P. Noble, The Leibniz Review

"it can doubtless be said that this book constitutes an important contribution to the study of Leibniz. Contextually and theoretically, it sheds new and relevant light on issues being debated in the current literature and should be of interest to any researcher working in the fields concerned." — Christian Leduc, Journal of the History of Philosophy

From the Publisher