Abstract
This introductory chapter of the book lays out the basic motivation and goals of the book. The chapter develops along the lines of outlining the fundamental idea for a systematic interpretation of Leibniz’s dynamics project, provides a brief chronology of Leibniz’s engagement with the project and explains some historiographical choices made in the periodization of the texts of the dynamics.
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Notes
- 1.
This point is made by Fichant (1995, 51).
- 2.
See A III 6, 506 and A III 6, 618.
- 3.
One might also allude here to magnetic “declination,” a theme dear to Leibniz’s natural scientific and engineering research. Many earlier writings show Leibniz’s deep interest in the intersection between magnetism, horology, and navigation (circa 1672–1676). This is somewhat outside of the scope of materials I can examine here. Nonetheless, it could be noted here that Leibniz did understand magnetism as a force distinct from gravity and elasticity (pressure) (A VIII 2, 17).
- 4.
I will use “mass” and “speed” in the more general sense of the terms throughout this book. For “mass” Leibniz uses “moles” or “ratione corporum” rather consistently and begins to develop a theory of specific gravity as early as 1677 as evidenced by the sophistication of “De modo perveniendi ad veram corporum analysin“. A theory of mass in the sense of canonical classical mechanics was clearly defined in Dynamica, however Leibniz does not always have in mind the scientific definition. For “speed,” Leibniz often means velocity and represents linear directions with negative variables. Again, his use of the term from the early period to the late is not consistent, and celeritas and velocitas are used interchangeably. I use the terms without any specific appeal to their technical definition.
- 5.
Several of these “structuralist” themes are directly relevant to Leibniz’s long-term projects on linguistics. The various works on grammatica rationalis, lingua rationalis, charateristica verbalis around 1678–1679 demonstrate a structuralist or proto-structuralist approach to lingistics. The project sought to reduce all grammatical variations in Latin to a small number of elements and then use this to map other European languages. In an encyclopedia project of 1679, Consilium de encyclopaedia nova conscribenda methodo inventoria, Leibniz places this project of grammar in the first order of subjects (A VI, 4, 343). See also A VI, 4, n. 21, 22, 24, 35, 36.
- 6.
See Fichant (2016, 11–41, 12–16).
- 7.
See Fichant (1994, 59).
- 8.
- 9.
Most significant is Tentamen de motuum coelestium causis (GM VIII 144–187).
- 10.
- 11.
The correspondence with Hermann would last until the year of Leibniz’s death in 1716 (GM IV 260–416).
Bibliography
2. Other Texts of G.W. Leibniz (Not Cited by Abbreviation)
Leibniz, G.W. 1994. Leibniz: La réforme de la dynamique. Ed. Michel Fichant. Paris: Vrin.
II. Texts by Other Authors
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Brown, Gregory. 1984. ‘Quod ostendendum susceperamus’. What did Leibniz undertake to show in Brevis Demonstratio? Studia Leibnitiana Sonderhelft 13: 122–137.
Fichant, Michel. 1994. Introduction. In Leibniz: La réforme de la dynamique, ed. Michel Fichant, 9–65. Paris: Vrin.
Fichant, Michel. 1995. De la puissance à l’action: la singularité de la Dynamique. Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 100 (1): 49–81.
Fichant, Michel. 2016. Les dualités de la dynamique leibnizienne. Lexicon Philosophicum 4: 11–41.
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Mormino, Gianfranco. 2011. Leibniz entre Huygens et Newton: force centrifuge et relativite du mouvement dans les lettres de 1694. In Natur und Subjekt. IX. Internationaler Leibniz-Kongress Vorträge, ed. Herbert Breger, Jurgen Herbst, and Sven Erdner, vol. 2, 697–705. Hannover: Druckerei Hartmann.
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Tho, T. (2017). Introduction, Chronology and Historiography. In: Vis Vim Vi: Declinations of Force in Leibniz’s Dynamics. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59055-4_1
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