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Leibniz on Compossibility
Author(s) -
Messina James,
Rutherford Donald
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00262.x
Subject(s) - sketch , interpretation (philosophy) , epistemology , meaning (existential) , relation (database) , possible world , reading (process) , philosophy , key (lock) , computer science , linguistics , computer security , algorithm , database
Leibniz’s well‐known thesis that the actual world is just one among many possible worlds relies on the claim that some possibles are incompossible , meaning that they cannot belong to the same world. Notwithstanding its central role in Leibniz’s philosophy, commentators have disagreed about how to understand the compossibility relation. We examine several influential interpretations and demonstrate their shortcomings. We then sketch a new reading, the cosmological interpretation, and argue that it accommodates two key conditions that any successful interpretation must satisfy.