Abstract

In this work I critically examine three basic characteristics of the Leibnizian metaphysical system, and study and evaluate their interconnections. In chapter I I discuss Leibniz's version of representation, especially as it refers to the connection between the real and the phenomenal levels of his system. In chapter II I examine Leibniz's principle of continuity. Additionally, continuity as a general feature of every level of Leibniz's metaphysics is critically appraised. The position adopted is that the problem of the composition of the continuum played a central role in the development of Leibniz's non-spatial and non-temporal monadic metaphysics. In chapter III the machinery developed in chapter I and II is used to give a new interpretation of Leibniz's metaphysics of space and time. More specifically, the notion of indirect representation is used and appropriate models are constructed which clarify the nature of the correspondence between the real and the phenomenal levels in the case of the relations of "spatially between" and "temporally between", as well as in the cases of spatial and temporal density. Finally, Leibniz's solution to the problem of the composition of the continuum is discussed. I argue that such a solution is not entirely satisfactory and propose a non-anachronistic alternative which is compatible with Leibniz's metaphysics of substance