Abstract

The article develops the conception that Leibniz has of organisms as machines of a particular type, differing from artificial machines because 1. all the parts of an organic machine are in turn composed by smaller machines and thus to infinity; and 2. the maintenance of the individual identity in living machines is provided by the fact that they have folds going to infinity which can unfold and fold back, thus allowing infinite transformations of the body. The author then discusses these two theses. With respect to thesis 1 the question is how the idea that the artificial machines have parts which are not in their turn machines is compatible with the mechanistic worldview hold by Leibniz. With respect to thesis 2 the author emphasizes the fact that Leibniz's conception of the infinite convolution of the organic machines seems to anticipate several points in the mathematics of fractal curves.