Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Stilpo, Richard Polt and Gottfried Leibniz

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3 ideas

27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 2. Space
Space is the order of coexisting possibles [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: Extension is the order of coexisting possibles.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Burcher De Volder [1706], 1703.06.20)
     A reaction: [In his next letter he uses the word 'space' instead of 'extension'] This is a rather startling different and modal definition of space. Cf Idea 13181.
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space
The idea that the universe could be moved forward with no other change is just a fantasy [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: To say that God could cause the universe to move forward in a straight line or otherwise without changing it in any other way is another fanciful supposition.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Samuel Clarke [1716], 4.14)
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 5. Relational Space
Space is an order among actual and possible things [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: Space is a relationship: an order, not only among existents, but also among possibles as though they existed.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 2.13)
     A reaction: The modal end to this idea is a bit puzzling. Would there be any space if there were only possibles, and nothing yet existed, as in God's mind the instant before he got to work?