Vis Vim Vi
Subtitle: Declinations of Force in Leibniz’s Dynamics
Publisher: Springer
Published: Jul 07, 2017
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 158
ISBN-13: 9783319590530
Description: This book presents a systematic reconstruction of Leibniz's dynamics project (c. 1676-1700) that contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the concepts of physical causality in Leibniz's work and 17th century physics. It argues that Leibniz's theory of forces privileges the causal relationship between structural organization and physical phenomena instead of body-to-body mechanical causation. The mature conception of Leibnizian force is not the power of one body to cause motion in another, but a kind of structural causation related to the configuration of integral systems of bodies in physical evolution. By treating the immanent philosophy of Leibniz's dynamics, this book makes explicit the systematic aims and inherent limits of Leibniz's physical project, in addition to providing an alternative vision of the scientific understanding of the physical world in the late 17th and early 18th century.
Notes: Source title: Vis Vim Vi: Declinations of Force in Leibniz’s Dynamics (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (46))