The article presents Leibniz's preoccupation (in 1675?6) with the difference between the notion of infinite number, which he regards as impossible, and that of the infinite being, which he regards as possible. I call this issue ?Leibniz's Problem? and examine Spinoza's solution to a similar problem that arises in the context of his philosophy. ?Spinoza's solution? is expounded in his letter on the infinite (Ep.12), which Leibniz read and annotated in April 1676. The gist of Spinoza's solution is to distinguish (...) between three kinds of infinity and, in particular, between one that applies to substance, and one that applies to numbers, seen as auxiliaries of the imagination. The rest of the paper examines the extent to which Spinoza's solution solves Leibniz's problem. The main thesis I advance is that, when Spinoza and Leibniz say that the divine substance is infinite, in most contexts it is to be understood in non-numerical and non-quantitative terms. Instead, for Spinoza and Leibniz, a substance is said to be infinite in a qualitative sense stressing that it is complete, perfect and indivisible. I argue that this approach solves one strand of Leibniz's problem and leaves another unsolved. (shrink)

Resumen En el presente trabajo analizo el concepto de cuerpo en los escritos maduros de Leibniz. En el marco del debate contemporáneo acerca del estatus de la sustancia corpórea examino el entramado de las tres nociones sobre las que se construye la metafísica leibniziana de los cuerpos, a saber, la de materia prima, la de cuerpo orgánico y la de extensión. En cada caso evalúo el estatus ontológico que Leibniz les reconoce así como el papel que cumplen en su metafísica.In (...) this paper I examine the concept of body in Leibniz’s mature writings. In the context of the contemporary debate on the status of the corporeal substance, I analyze the relation between the three notions from which he builds his metaphysics of bodies, namely, the primary matter, the organic body, and the extension. For each case I evaluate their ontological status and the role they play in his metaphysics. (shrink)

¿Qué es lo que hace, según Leibniz, que se pueda decir que nuestro mundo es el mejor posible? Varias interpretaciones, no siempre posibles de conciliar, se han propuesto. Sería el mejor porque en ese mundo las criaturas razonables obtendrían la mayor felicidad, o por cuanto realizaría la mayor cantidad de ser y realidad a nivel total, o incluso porque sería el que asocia las leyes más simples con los fenómenos más ricos y variados. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar (...) que lo mejor ha de comprenderse en el sentido del método de Formis optimis, es decir, como lo que remite, en un genero dado, a la forma más determinada, la cual es a la vez única y la más racional. Así, la perfección del mundo no resulta de que concentraría la mayor cantidad de esencia y bien, sino de que constituye el orden más inteligible, donde cada cosa, sin ser forzosamente la más perfecta en sí misma, contribuye no obstante a la armonía universal, a saber, a la unidad de una multiplicidad que cumple mejor los fines divinos. For Leibniz, what makes our world be the best? Several interpretations not always compatible have been proposed. It would be the best, insofar as it would maximize the happiness of reasonable creatures, or insofar as it would achieve the largest quantity of being and reality as a whole, or insofar as it would combine the simplest laws with the richest and most varied phenomena. The aim of this paper is to show that the best is to be understood in the sense of the method de Formis optimis, as what refers, for a given sort of things, to the most determined form, which is both unique and the most rational one. Thus, the perfection of the world does not result from its containing the largest quantity of essence and of good, but from its forming the most intelligible order, in which every single thing, without being necessarily the best in itself, nevertheless contributes to the universal harmony, that is to the unity of a manifold fulfilling the divine ends in the best possible way. (shrink)