Maimonides Lecture on Scepticism: Leibnitz on Infinity and Perfection

13. August 2024, 16:00 Uhr

MCAS would like to invite you to a Maimonides Lecture on Scepticism on Tuesday, 13 August 2024, at 16:00. Anat Schechtman will talk about “Leibniz on Infinity and Perfection.” The lecture will take place in room C319.

Contrary to the view of his contemporary, John Locke—and to our own post-Cantorian one—Leibniz insists that “true” or “absolute” infinity is not a quantitative notion: whereas quantities are characterized (inter alia) by having parts, he claims that the “true infinite is not at all found in a whole composed of parts,” but that it is rather simple and “more basic” than composed things. Instead, it is a metaphysical notion closely tied to maximal perfection, whereas finitude is tied to imperfection and limitation. The purpose in this talk is to unpack and evaluate this Leibnizian position against the foil of its more familiar quantitative rival.

Anat Schechtman is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Date
Tuesday, 13 August 2024, 16:00

Venue
MCAS
Please contact MCAS for further information and registration.

Poster: PDF

Contact and registration: maimonides-centre"AT"uni-hamburg.de