The metrics of imagination: variations on the theme of mathesis universalis in the work of Leibniz

• Grant number: 24/22674-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Paulo Garrido Pimenta
• Grantee: Pedro Rodrigues Naccarato
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/14223-3 - Probabilistic Reason. A controversy of the Enlightenment (Condllac, dAlembert, Diderot), AP.R

Abstract

With this project, we intend to investigate how the idea of mathesis universalis appears in the writings of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Since this subject was not systematically addressed by the author, we aim to show how, despite its apparent dispersion, the theme of mathesis universalis consistently follows the same thread throughout his work: through a theory of imagination, ensuring the ontological unity of mathematics in order to grant them epistemological autonomy in relation to metaphysics. Furthermore, we seek to identify the particularities present in each of the texts dedicated by Leibniz to this issue. In this way, we hope to understand the position occupied by mathematics in Leibniz's system, mainly aiming to clarify certain misunderstandings raised by appropriations of his thought during the twentieth century.