Abstract

VAUGHAN C, NICOLÁS. (WHY DOES LEIBNIZ NEED ABSOLUTE TIME?). Ideas y Valores [online]. 2007, vol.56, n.134, pp.23-44. ISSN 0120-0062.

In this paper I bring together two characteristically Leibnizean doctrines: the doctrine of relational and ideal time, and the doctrine of preestablished harmony. I will argue that, if every substance is necessarily connected with another, then it makes no sense to deny absolute and real time. In the first section, I will describe Newton's and Clarke's conception of absolute time; then, in the second section, I will consider Leibniz's critique of that conception, on which he bases his ideal and relational doctrine of time. In the third section I will look briefly at Leibniz's mature monadic metaphysics, taking special account of his doctrine of preestablished harmony. In the last section, I will suggest that there is an irreconcilable tension between these two doctrines.

Keywords : Leibniz; Clarke; Newton; absolute time; monad; preestablished harmony.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )