Compossibility

Compossibility

Compossibility is a philosophical concept from Leibniz. According to Leibniz a complete individual thing (for example a person) is characterized by all its properties, and these determine its relations with other individuals. The existence of one individual may contradict the existence of another. A possible world is made up of individuals that are compossible — that is, individuals that can exist together. Possible worlds exist as possibilities in the mind of God. One world among them is realized as the actual world, and this is the most perfect one.

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Leibniz's Modal Metaphysics by Brandon C. Look, views on "compossibility" and the closely related best of all possible worlds argument are to be found in On the Ultimate Origination of Things, The Discourse in Metaphysics, On Freedom, and throughout his works. The term itself is found in Die philosophischen Schriften III when Leibniz writes to Louis Bourguet.[1]

Alain Badiou borrows this concept in defining philosophy as the creation of a "space of compossibility" for heterogeneous truths.

Gilles Deleuze uses it in Cinema II taking support from Leibniz's explanation of the problem of future contingents. He then creates the notion of in-compossible, and drawing on Jorge Luis Borges explains that several mutually contradictory worlds do in fact exist.

The word itself, if not the concept, won some notoriety for being marked for elimination from the Collins dictionary.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Leibniz's Modal Metaphysics". Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008-05-23. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-modal/. Retrieved 2010-01-22. 
  2. ^ Malvern, Jack (2008-09-22). "How you can help to save some cherished words from oblivion". London: Times Online. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4799560.ece. Retrieved 2008-10-01. 

See also



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  • compossibility — (ˌ)kämˌpäsəˈbiləd.ē, kəm noun ( es) Etymology: Medieval Latin compossibilis + English ity : ability or possibility of coexisting the real compossibility of individuals Grace De Laguna …   Useful english dictionary

  • compossibility — com·pos·si·bil·i·ty …   English syllables

  • compossible — compossibility, n. /kom pos euh beuhl, keuhm /, adj. 1. compatible; potentially consistent, as with another statement, theory, etc. 2. able to exist or happen together. [1630 40; < ML compossibilis. See COM , POSSIBLE] * * * …   Universalium

  • Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von — (1646 1716)    by Brett Nicholls   Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz is drawn into Deleuze s engagement with the history of philosophy with a book length study, The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque, and he is present at strategic moments in Deleuze s… …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von — (1646 1716)    by Brett Nicholls   Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz is drawn into Deleuze s engagement with the history of philosophy with a book length study, The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque, and he is present at strategic moments in Deleuze s… …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • Dialetheism — is the view that some statements can be both true and false simultaneously. More precisely, it is the belief that there can be a true statement whose negation is also true. Such statements are called true contradictions , or dialetheia.… …   Wikipedia

  • Mahmoud Khatami — محمود خاتمی Full name Mahmoud Khatami محمود خاتمی Born January 4, 1963(1963 01 04) Tehran, Iran …   Wikipedia

  • Dialeteismo — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Dialeteismo es la creencia de que existen ciertas contradicciones verdaderas, o dialetheias. En forma más especifica, los dialeteistas creen que para cierta proposición P, tanto P como su negación, no P (˜P), son… …   Wikipedia Español

  • incompossibility — in·compossibility …   English syllables

  • individuation —    by Constantin V.Boundas   Deleuze s concept of individuation is a genetic account of individuals. The concept emerges from a critique of hylomorphism that exposes the error in thinking of an individual as the end point of a progressive… …   The Deleuze dictionary

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