The Paradoxes of Early Modern Metaphysics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17851/1983-3636.13.2.195-213Keywords:
paradoxes, Early Modern philosophy, metaphysicsAbstract
This paper is an analysis of the influence of paradoxes in the history of philosophy, more specifically, on how a certain set of paradoxes shape the metaphysical discussions of Early Modernity. The goal of the paper is to show that the metaphysics of the Seventeenth Century is marked by three paradoxes that are intertwined. The hypothesis here is that these three paradoxes are versions of the same metaphysical problem, the one and many problem, but offered in three different formulations: the theological, the scientific, and the mathematical. To this end, the formulations are going to be reconstructed according to the way they are present in the metaphysical works of Spinoza, Descartes, and Leibniz. This analysis will suggest that paradoxes play a fundamental role not only in exposing the philosophical problems in the contexto of the history of philosophy, but they also fill an important methodological role in philosophical investigations. The advantage of presenting philosophical problems in the form of paradox is that paradoxes capture the intellect more easily, stimulating the mind to think thorough them.
References
ANSTEY, P. R.; SCHUSTER, J. A. The Science of Nature in the Seventeenth Century. Patterns of Change in Early Modern Natural Philosophy. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2005.
ARTHUR, R. T. W. Leibniz. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014.
ARTHUR, R. T. W. (Trad. e ed.). The Labyrinth of the Continuum: Writings on the Continuum Problem, 1672-1686. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
BORGES, J.-L. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: EMCE, 2011. 4 v.
CASSIRER, E. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.
DESCARTES, R. Philosophical Writings. Translated by John Cottingham, et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. v. 1-2.
EBETURK, E. Tracing the Footsteps of The young Leibniz in the Labyrinth of the continuum. 2008. Thesis (M. A.) – Middle East Technical University, Sept. 2008.
FRAENKEL, C.; PERINETTI, D.; SMITH, J. E. H. (Ed.). The Rationalists Between Tradition and Innovation. New York: Springer, 2011.
FRAGOSO, E. A. R. A Definição de Deus na Ética de Benedictus de Spinoza. Kalagatos Revista de Filosofia do Mestrado Acadêmico em Filosofia da UECE, Fortaleza, v.2, n. 4, p.11-31, verão 2005.
GARBER, D.; AYERS, M. (Ed.). The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
GARBER, D. Physics and Foundations. In: PARK, K.; DASTON, L. (Ed.). Cambridge History of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. v. 3. Early Modern Science.
HALPER, E. One and Many in Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Books alpha-delta. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing, 2009.
KORICHI, M. Baruch Spinoza Lettres sur le mal Correspondance avec Blyenbergh. Barcelone: Folio Plus Philosophie, 2006.
LANDINI, G. Russell’s Separation of the Logical and Semantic Paradoxes. Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Cairn.Info, v. 3, n. 229, p. 257-294, 2004.
LEIBNIZ, G. W. Discurso de Metafísica e outros textos. Apresentação e notas de Tessa Moura Lacerda. Tradução Marilena Chauí e Alexandre Cruz Bonilha. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2004.
NADLER, S. Spinoza, Leibniz and the Gods of Philosophy. In: FRAENKEL, C.; PERINETTI, D.; SMITH, J. E. H. (Ed.). The Rationalists Between Tradition and Innovation. New York: Springer, 2011.
PARK, K.; LORRAINE, D. (Ed.). The Cambridge History of Science Volume 3 Early Modern Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
PARKINSON, G. H. R.; MORRIS, M. (Trad. e ed.). Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Philosophical Writings. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1973.
QUINE, W. V. The Ways of Paradox. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976.
RIESTERER, P. Lost in the Labyrinth: Spinoza, Leibniz and the Continuum. 2006. Thesis (M.A.) – McMaster University. August, 2006.
RUSSELL, B. A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz. London: Routledge, 1992.
SLOWIK, E. “Descartes’ Physics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition). Edward N. Zalta (Ed.). Disponível em: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/descartes-physics/.
SORENSEN, R. A Brief History of Paradox. Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
SPINOZA, B. The Collected Works of Spinoza. Edited and translated by Edwin Curley. Princeton University Press, 1985. v. 1.
SPINOZA, B. The Collected Works of Spinoza. Edited and translated by Edwin Curley. Princeton University Press, 2016. v. 2.
SPINOZA, B. Opera Posthuma, Amsterdam 1677. Riproduzione fotografica integrale a cura di Pina Totaro prefazione di Filippo Mignini. Quodlibet, 2008.
SPINOZA, B. Breve Tratado de deus, do homem e de seu bem-estar. Trad. Emanuel Angelo da Rocha Fragoso e Luiz Alberto Oliva. São Paulo: Ed. Autêntica, 2014.
SPINOZA, B. Ética. Trad. Tomaz Tadeu. Editora Autêntica, 2007.
SPINOZA, B. Pensamentos Metafísicos, Tratado da Correção do Intelecto, Ética, Tratado Político, Correspondência. Trad. Marilena Chauí, Carlos Lopes de Mattos, Joaquim de Carvalho e Manuel de Castro. São Paulo: Editora Abril Cultural, 1973. (Coleção Os Pensadores.)
