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Matter Matters

Metaphysics and Methodology in the Early Modern Period

Kurt Smith author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:13th Dec '12

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Matter Matters cover

Why is there a material world? Why is it fundamentally mathematical? Matter Matters explores a seventeenth-century answer to these questions as it emerged from the works of Descartes and Leibniz. The 'mathematization' of the physics is shown to have been conceptually underwritten by two methods of philosophizing, namely, analysis and synthesis. The connection between these things--mathematics, matter, and the methods of analysis and synthesis--has thus far gone unexplored by scholars. The book is in four Parts: Part I works out the context in which the theory of modern matter arose. Part II develops the method of analysis, showing how it aligns with Descartes's famous doctrine of clear and distinct ideas. Part III develops the method of synthesis, focusing primarily on Leibniz, showing how it establishes the very conditions necessary and sufficient for mathematics. Analysis and synthesis turn out to establish isomorphic conceptual systems, which turn out to be isomorphic to what mathematicians today call a group. The group concept expresses the conditions underwriting all of mathematics. Part IV examines several relatively new interpretations of Descartes--the realist and idealist readings--which appear to be at odds with one another. The examination shows the sense in which these readings are actually compatible, and together reveal a richer picture of Descartes's position on the reality of matter. Ultimately, Matter Matters establishes the claim that mathematics is intelligible if, and only if, matter exists.

Kurt Smith's Matter Matters is a brilliantly suggestive study of early modern philosophy ... The book's virtues are many. It contains important contributions to the literature on Descartes. There is also a refreshing confidence on display, as Smith draws connections between very different thinkers across large spans of time and a range of topics this is a book that deserves attention * Joseph Zepeda, History of Science Society *
Kurt Smith's Matter Matters is a brilliantly suggestive study of early modern philosophy. ... The book's virtues are many. It contains important contributions to the literature of Descartes. There is also a refreshing confidence on display, as Smith draws connections between many different thinkers across large spans of time and a range of topics. * Joseph Zepeda, Isis *

ISBN: 9780199664702

Dimensions: 235mm x 180mm x 14mm

Weight: 540g

310 pages