The possibility of vacuum in space and time in Leibniz

Author(s)

Eveline de Lourdes Ferreira Diniz

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2018-09-28

Examining board members

Fátima Regina Rodrigues Évora; Márcio Augusto Damin Custódio; Tadeu Mazzola Verza

• Advisor: Fátima Regina Rodrigues Évora

Abstract

This dissertation intends to analyze the possibility of vacuum in space and time in Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz¿s works, giving priority to his maturity, and having as reference the correspondence he established with Samuel Clarke. For this purpose, our analysis involves the ontologies of space and time, which, formulated by our reason, are defined as orders, or sets of relations, respectively, of coexistence and succession. Thus, space and time, as orders or beings of reason, are analyzed in their relation with the true substances, the monads, from which the actual world is phenomenon. The Principles of Sufficient Reason and the Identity of the Indiscernibles are used by Leibniz both in his denial of Clarke's absolute space and time, and in his theory of substances. As a result, at last, there is the possibility of vacuum, insofar as space and time, by definition, are within the scope of possible and ideal things (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/00433-2 - The possibility of vacuum in space and time in Leibniz
• Grantee: Eveline de Lourdes Ferreira Diniz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master