Abstract

RAFFO QUINTANA, Federico. The Notion of “Space” in the Young Leibniz’s Writings. Diánoia [online]. 2017, vol.62, n.78, pp.75-97. ISSN 0185-2450.

In this paper we will examine the evolution of the treatment of the notion of “space” in the young Leibniz’s writings. We will distinguish three moments of the development of this notion. First, we will consider the conception of space as a “universal place” which the philosopher of Leipzig presented between 1669 and 1671. Then, we will examine some physical writings of 1672 in which he introduced motion in the definition of body. This led him to reject his previous conception of space as “universal place”. Third, we will consider some texts written between 1675 and 1676 in which he developed an exam of the notion of “universal space” which differs from the conception he held in the pre-Parisian period and which is related with the emergence of the notion of extension as an attribute of God.

Keywords : universal place; body; motion; extension; universal space.