Use of the Alethic Modalities in the Monadology

Abstract

Leibniz in the Monadology made an extensive use of alethic modal concepts. However, in it Leibniz presupposes the definition of these concepts that he did in depth in previous writings. In those Leibniz deals also with other non-alethic modal concepts. Re-levant in this paper are the concepts of necessity, possibility, impossibility, contingency and existence. As currenlty understood, and also in Leibniz, possibility and impossibility are defined in terms of necessity. Contingency refers to those entities whose existence could be claimed as existents in the actual world. Then, contingency and existence are closed related, however they show some specific features. In modern approaches these two modal operators are excluded as logical modalities. In this paper we deal with necessity, possibility, imposibility and contingency in one section, and the issue of existence in another section. So, the paper divides into six short sections. In the first one, a general conceptualization of modalities is introduced. In the second, the form and meaning of modalities, as analyzed by Leibniz, is introduced. In the third section, the role played of these modalities in the leibnizian conceptualization of analysis and synthesis is discussed. In the forth section, the problem of existence statements is introduced, and it is exemplified the way in which Leibniz deals with. It is added two brief sections to indicate the influences of Leibniz thought. In the fifth section, a brief discussion on the influence of Leibniz in Kant ?s distinction between analytic and synthetic and the decisive critic of Kant on Leibniz approach of existence is introduced. In the sixth section, a brief statement is made on the influence of Leibniz ? modal logic on the modern developments of this logic after the publication of the logical papers and fragments published in 1903 by Couturat.