Leibniz and the problem of the relation between essences and God: opposition and evolution from a Theo-mereological model towards a representational model
Abstract
This research aims to examine the problem of the relation between essences and God in Leibniz’s metaphysics, mainly at the light of the opposition and evolution of two models that reveal a decisive transition in his metaphysics of essences, namely a Theo-mereological model according to which essences constitute the ontological nature of God and, in the limit, are identical to him (1668 - 1676) and a representational model which conceives of essences as intentional objects of God’s understanding, excluding then the possibility they constitute or identify to God or the divine understanding (1680 onwards).
Through an analytical survey of several Leibniz’s manuscripts as well as some studies concerning Leibnizian ontology of essences, our task consists in revealing how and why the Theo-mereological model adopted by the young Leibniz is overcame by a representational model.
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