Leibniz on Causation and Agency

Joráti, Julia

doi:10.1017/9781108131629

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…8 The sense of 'cause' here is of course what Leibniz calls "ideal causation" (or more typically "ideal action"). On this kind of causation, see Puryear (2010), Jorati (2017: 47-52), and Jorati (2020.…”

Section: Leibniz On Abstract Thoughts and Mind-body Parallelismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Leibniz should have agreed with Berkeley about abstract ideas

Puryear

2021

British Journal for the History of Philosophy

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Leibniz claims that Berkeley "wrongly or at least pointlessly rejects abstract ideas." What he fails to realize, however, is that some of his own core views commit him to essentially the same stance. His belief that this is the best (and thus most harmonious) possible world, which itself stems from his Principle of Sufficient Reason, leads him to infer that mind and body must perfectly represent or "express" one another. In the case of abstract thoughts he admits that this can happen only in virtue of thinking some image that, being essentially a mental copy of a brain state, expresses (and is expressed by) that state. But here he faces a problem. In order for a thought to be genuinely abstract, its representational content must differ from that of any mental image, since the latter can represent only something particular. In that case, however, an exact correspondence between the accompanying mental image and the brain state would not suffice to establish a perfect harmony between mind and body. Even on Leibniz's own principles, then, it appears that Berkeley was right to dismiss abstract ideas.

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Section: Leibniz On Abstract Thoughts and Mind-body Parallelismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Leibniz should have agreed with Berkeley about abstract ideas

Puryear

2021

British Journal for the History of Philosophy

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“…reflects the psychic therapy [ Seelenleitung ] offered by Seneca and his Neostoic disciples” (1985, 24). And Seidler’s article provides a useful compendium of examples from across Leibniz’s career (see 1985, 25–33; also see Jorati 2017, chap. 6).…”

Section: Leibniz and Spiritual Exercisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leibniz’s Philosophy as a Way of Life?

Lodge

2020

Metaphilosophy

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The main concern of this essay is to make a case for the thesis that Leibniz conceived of his philosophy as a way of life in something like the sense articulated in the works of Pierre Hadot. On this view, philosophy was a type of conduct, or a mode of existing-in-the-world, which had to be practised at each instant, with the goal of transforming the whole of the individual's life. The essay also serves as an introduction to some of the main themes in Hadot's work. While it includes a brief discussion of a number of the central components of Leibniz's philosophy conceived as a way of life, the essay does not aim to do so in great detail. Rather, it offers a manifesto and initial road map.

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“… 4 As far as I can tell, this doctrine has not received extensive attention in the secondary literature. Torralba (2005), Jorati (2017, 123–32), and Murray (2004) discuss this Leibnizian doctrine. …”

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confidence: 99%

“… 5 See Armstrong 2017; Blumenfeld 1988; Burms and De Dijn 1979; Frankel 1984; McNamara 1990; Jorati 2017, chap. 5; and McDonough 2018.…”

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Leibniz on Agential Contingency and Inclining but not Necessitating Reasons

García

2022

Can. J. of Philosophy

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I argue for a novel interpretation of Leibniz’s conception of the kind of contingency that matters for freedom, which I label ‘agential contingency.’ In brief, an agent is free to the extent that she determines herself to do what she judges to be the best of several considered options that she could have brought about had she concluded that these options were best. I use this novel interpretation to make sense of Leibniz’s doctrine that the reasons that explain free actions are merely inclining and not necessitating.

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Leibniz on Causation and Agency

Cited by 20 publications

References 98 publications

Why Leibniz should have agreed with Berkeley about abstract ideas

Why Leibniz should have agreed with Berkeley about abstract ideas

Leibniz’s Philosophy as a Way of Life?

Leibniz on Agential Contingency and Inclining but not Necessitating Reasons

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