Jeffrey K McDonough

A Miracle Creed

The Principle of Optimality in Leibniz's Physics and Philosophy

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

A rival to Isaac Newton in mathematics and physics, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz believed that our world--the best of all possible worlds--must be governed by optimality principles. Jeffrey McDonough explores the pursuit of optimality through five of his most important works in natural philosophy and shows how thinking about optimality bridges his scientific and philosophical studies. Chapters include discussions of Leibniz's understanding of teleology, the nature of bodies, laws of nature, and free will. The final chapter explores the legacy of Leibniz's physics in light of his work on optimal form.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press, USA
• Seitenzahl: 250
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. Februar 2022
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 214mm x 142mm x 22mm
• Gewicht: 404g
• ISBN-13: 9780197629079
• ISBN-10: 0197629075
• Artikelnr.: 62579057

Autorenporträt

Jeffrey K. McDonough is a Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. His research focuses on the intersection of philosophy, science, and religion in the early modern era. He has written numerous articles on philosophy in the early modern period. His edited volume on the history of the concept of teleology, Teleology: A History was recently published by Oxford University Press (2020). He is currently at work on a textbook on the philosophy of religion entitled Saints, Heretics and Atheists: A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion also to be published by Oxford University Press.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
Chapter 1. Optics and Immanent Lawful Teleology
Chapter 2. Rigid Beams and the Foundations of Physics
Chapter 3. Vis viva and the Origins of Leibniz's Natural Philosophy
Chapter 4. Hanging Chains and Monadic Agency
Chapter 5. Falling Bodies and the Rise of Variational Mechanics
Epilogue