Cover Image

Matter matters : metaphysics and methodology in the early modern period /

Show other versions (1)

Why is there a material world? Why is it fundamentally mathematical? 'Matter Matters' explores a 17th-century answer to these questions as it emerged from the works of Descartes and Leibniz. Kurt Smith establishes the claim that mathematics is intelligible if, and only if, matter exists.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, Kurt, 1961-
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.
Subjects:
Descartes, René, > 1596-1650.
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, > Freiherr von, > 1646-1716.
Descartes, René, > 1596-1650
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, > Freiherr von, > 1646-1716
Matter.
Metaphysics > History > 17th century.
Matière.
Métaphysique > Histoire > 17e siècle.
PHILOSOPHY > Metaphysics.
Matter
Metaphysics
Metafysica.
Methodologie.
1600-1699
Electronic books.
History
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Preliminaries : the context of modern matter. The visible and the intelligible
  • Plato's early and late methods
  • Matter and division
  • Analysis. Analysis and clarity and distinctness
  • A general theory of clarity and distinctness
  • The general theory continued
  • Enumeration, quantity, and measurement
  • Synthesis. Synthesis and system building
  • Synthesis and the principle of addition
  • Metaphysics, mathematics, and metaphor
  • Material structure and calculating machines
  • How analysis and synthesis are related
  • Sensible and intelligible matter. Is matter real?
  • Empirical ideality, reality, and matter
  • Empirical reality and intelligible matter
  • Transcendental matter
  • Tying up the loose ends : closing remarks.