"There is an infinity of past and present shapes and motions that enter into the efficient cause of my present writing"
— Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716)
Date
1714
Metaphor
"There is an infinity of past and present shapes and motions that enter into the efficient cause of my present writing"
Metaphor in Context
But there must also be a sufficient reason in contingent truths, or truths of fact, that is, in the series of things distributed throughout the universe of creatures, where the resolution into particular reasons could proceed into unlimited detail because of the immense variety of things in nature and because of the division of bodies to infinity. There is an infinity of past and present shapes and motions that enter into the efficient cause of my present writing, and there is an infinity of small inclinations and dispositions of my soul, present and past, that enter into its final cause (se. 36, 37, 44, 45, 49, 52, 121, 122, 337, 340, 344).
(Principle 36, p. 217)
(Principle 36, p. 217)
Categories
Provenance
Background Reading
Citation
Leibniz, G. W. Philosophical Essays. Ed. and Trans. Roger Ariew and Daniel Garber. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co., 1989.
Theme
Writing to the Moment
Date of Entry
10/10/2003
Date of Review
10/23/2003
