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Leibniz's Revelation-Inspired Metaphysics : an Exercise in Reconciling Faith and Reason

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Leibniz's Revelation-Inspired Metaphysics : an Exercise in Reconciling Faith and Reason University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1991 Leibniz's revelation-inspired metaphysics : an exercise in reconciling faith and reason. Brian D. Skelly University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Skelly, Brian D., "Leibniz's revelation-inspired metaphysics : an exercise in reconciling faith and reason." (1991). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2079. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2079 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LEIBNIZ'S REVELATION- INSPIRED MET/^HYSICS - AN EXERCISE IN RECONCILING FAITH AND REASON A Dissertation Presented by BRIAN D. SKELLY Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 1991 Department of Philosophy © Copyright by Brian David Skelly 1991 All Rights Reserved LEIBNIZ'S REVELATION- INSPIRED METAPHYSICS - AN EXERCISE IN RECONCILING FAITH AND REASON A Dissertation Presented by BRIAN D. SKELLY App.roved as to styl^i content by /' r ' \ 1 Robert C. Sleigh J/'-L Chair Ga^(^th B/ ^^atlthews , Memb€ir > VI JLryQ, C Vere C. Chappell, M^ri iber G. Robison, Department Head artment of Philosophy For Sau-Ping and Teresa . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Robert Sleigh Jr. for providing as professor and Committee Chair encouragement and direction in pursuing this field of inquiry. I am much indebted to Drs. Gareth Matthews and Vere Chappell as professors, professional role-models, and constructive critics; to Professor Vincent Cleary for instilling in me an appreciation for Latin and giving me a much needed boost in morale; and to all my professors, especially those at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at the Gregorian University in Rome My thanks to Dr. Reinhard Finster at the Hannover Archives for sending me materials and showing an interest; and to Paul Eisenkopf, the influence of whose research on this work merits more than a footnote. Finally, I am immeasurably indebted to my wife, mother, and entire family, who allowed me the luxury of pursuing a life of contemplation. V . ABSTRACT LEIBNIZ'S REVELATION-INSPIRED METAPHYSICS - AN EXERCISE IN RECONCILING FAITH AND REASON MAY 1991 BRIAN D. SKELLY B.A., MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BACC., GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY Lie., GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS Directed by: Professor Robert C. Sleigh Jr. A puzzle about some of the basic commitments of Leibniz's metaphysics is that they fail to come anywhere near approaching the self-evidence one should expect of metaphysical principles. Notwithstanding that Leibniz's adherence to Christian theology has not generally been granted as having had a decisive impact on his metaphysics, the latter, in fact, was largely the result of a life-long project to give a comprehensive rational defense of Christianity In particular, a close study of four theological commitments and six metaphysical commitments in the context of Leibniz's thought reveals that the former are in a sense more basic than, are motivationally prior to, the latter. Namely: that God the perfect being exists, that Real Presence is true, that the Lutheran, Catholic, and perhaps even Calvinist accounts of the Eucharist are compatible, and that VI Original Sin is true. Each had a resolute impact on the formation of Leibniz's metaphysical commitments: that the actual world is the best possible world, that teleological explanation is indispensible for scientific understanding, that the substance of body is not its extension but its active principle, that natures are complete concepts, that there are no material atoms, and that actual substances were created all at once. It is not surprising that Leibniz's best-possible-world theory and his commitment to the universal applicability of teleology have their roots in his commitment to the existence of God the perfect being. But it is also the case that his i — ma t er ia 1 i s t stance on substances was formed in defense of Real Presence and in response to a reconciliatory envisionment of the Eucharist that could resolve denominational disputes; that his commitment to natures as complete concepts and his anti-atomism derive largely from a commitment to God's omniscience; and that his commitment to the all-at-once creation of substances stems from his attempts to understand Original Sin. In short, Leibniz's metaphysics is Revelation-inspired. Yet although there are some good reasons in favor of calling it a "Christian metaphysics", as he had hoped, there are some serious drawbacks to its being considered such. Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS V ABSTRACT .... PREFACE .... xiv INTRODUCTION - THE KEY TO LEIBNIZ'S THINKING 1 Explanation of Title ^ Leibniz's Philosophy Revelation-Inspired ... 2 Revelation-Inspired - But Christian? ..!!!! 5 Leibniz through the Eyes of His Interpreters . ' 6 Layout of Present Work ] Chapter 1. FOUR REVELATION- INSPIRED THEOLOGICAL COMMITMENTS . 16 Proposition 1 - God, the Perfect Being, Exists ... 16 Evidence of a Commitment 17 Significance of Leibniz's Theistic Commitment . 20 Consideration of Proofs for God's Existence ... 26 Proof from Motion 26 Proof from Preestablished Harmony 28 Proof from Contingency or Sufficient Reason . 30 The Ontological Proof 35 Proof from Eternal Truths 46 Proposition 2 - The Eucharistic Doctrine of Real Presence Is True 49 Background 49 Evidence of Commitment 53 Significance of Commitment 56 Defense of Real Presence - Refutation of Materialism 58 Proposition 3 - The Lutheran, Catholic, and Perhaps Even Calvinist Accounts of the Eucharist Are Essentially Compatible 59 Evidence of Commitment 59 Significance of Commitment 60 Envisionment or Defense of Possibility 62 viii Proposition - 4 The Doctrine of Original Sin Is True 66 Evidence of Commitment " gg Significance ’ of Commitment ^7 Defense ' 68 Metaphysical Evil Our Presence in Adam * 7 i The Origin of Souls ’ 75 2. SIX TENETS OF LEIBNIZ'S METAPHYSICS 76 Proposition 5 - The Actual World Is the Best Possible World Overview 76 Proposition 5 as Direct Consequence of God's Existence 77 Proposition 5 as Apologetic Instrument 79 Proposition 5 as Resulting from the Competition among Possibles for Existence 81 Proposition 6 - Teleological Reasoning Is a Virtually Indispensible Key for Science and Understanding . 83 Background 83 The Appropriateness of Contingent Reasoning to All Contingent Things 87 Leibniz's Critique of Anti-Teleology 88 The Usefulness of Teleological Reasoning, and Its Support of Formal Efficient-Cause Reasoning 90 Proposition 7 - The Essence of a Body Is Not Its Extension, but Its Principle of Activity 92 Background 92 Leibniz's Opposition to the Materialist Conception of Body 94 Descartes 94 Gassendi 94 General Opposition 98 The Non-Materialist Option 99 Proposition 8 - Existing Substances Are the Actualizations of Complete Concepts (The Natures of Substances Are Complete Concepts) 100 . 100 Evidence of Commitment . Significance of Commitment . 102 Defense of Proposition 8: Refutation of "Contrary" Impossible f^bsuTd Impious 1 108 Two Important Corollaries of Proposition 8 ... 109 Persistent Themes 2^09 Entailment of Two Corollaries from Proposition 8 Whether God Can Annihilate a Created Substance Another Argument against God's Power to Annihilate 122 Proposition 9 - There Are No Material Atoms 125 Deducibility from Propositions 7 and 8 125 Comments on the First Deduction 127 Comments on the Second Deduction 127 The Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles 128 Three Lines of Reasoning against Material Atomism 129 Citations Representing the First Line of Reasoning 130 Citations Representing the Second Line of Reasoning 131 Citations Representing the Third Line of Reasoning 132 Discussion of the First Line against Material Atomism 132 Citation i: No Unity in Extension 132 Citation ii: No Atoms of Minimum Extension . 137 Citation iii: Matter Infinitely Divisible . 139 Hardness and Fluidity 145 Discussion of the Second Line against Atomism . 152 Citation iv: Atoms Metaphysically Possible . 152 Citation v: But Atoms Contradict Perfect Order Citation vi: Identity of Indiscernibles . 156 X Discussion of the Third Line against Atomism Citations vii and viii: No Change by Leaps, hence No Atoms ] ^ Summary of Proposition 9 162 Proposition 10 - Substances Were All Created at Once 162 Evidence of Commitment 162 Significance of Commitment 163 3. THE THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF LEIBNIZ'S PHILOSOPHY .... 169 Evidence of Priority of Intent in General 169 The Quality of Evidence of Leibniz's Writings . 169 Leibniz's Subscription to Christian Doctrine . 172 Revealed Theology's Primacy as Goal or Standard of Thought 174 Christianity in Danger without Philosophical Support 180 Project of Defending Christianity 181 Evidence That Leibniz Undertook the "Project" . 187 The Question of Philosophical Honesty 194 The Roots of Leibniz's Metaphysics in Christian Theology: The Derivation of Six Propositions . 197 Derivation of Proposition 5: That the Actual World Is the Best Possible World 197 Derivation of Proposition 6: That Teleological Explanation Is an Indispensible Key for Revealing the Sufficent Reason of Things . 209
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