Andreas Blank takes up Richard Arthur’s recent argument that there are interesting points of consilience between the theories of corporeal substance in the writings of Daniel Sennert (1572–1637) and those of Leibniz. For example, both Sennert and the early Leibniz accepted the Lutheran doctrine of traduction of souls. While Blank agrees with the overall framework of Arthur’s interpretation, he argues that there are also some real points of divergence between Sennert and Leibniz. First, Sennert allows for two cases of genuine mixture: one in which the forms of the constituents remains unchanged, and one in which the forms and qualities of the constituents remains with modifications. By contrast, within the vortex theory developed by the early Leibniz, cases of mixture in which forms remain unchanged do not involve the emergence of a material continuum, while cases of mixture in which a material continuum emerges involves the destruction of the previous forms of the constituents. Second, Sennert’s “animate atoms” are conceived of as natural minima, i.e., as minimal bodies capable of sustaining a particular substantial form. Blank spells out the ways in which this view contrasts strongly with Leibniz’s later transformation theory of biological generation.
...MoreBook Smith, Justin E. H.; Nachtomy, Ohad (2011) Machines of Nature and Corporeal Substances in Leibniz.
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