Abstract

Leibniz's theory of denominations has been the subject of considerable interest in the latter half of this century. Much of the attention which has been given to it has been focused on what I call the "denominations doctrine." This doctrine asserts that there are no purely extrinsic denominations, or that every extrinsic denomination must have a foundation in an intrinsic denomination of the thing denominated. Understood broadly, this dissertation is an attempt to determine what this doctrine means. ;A consensus has emerged since the turn of the century that Leibniz was an advocate of what I call the "reducibility doctrine." This doctrine states that every relational predicate is ultimately reducible to a non-relational predicate. In defense of this claim some commentators have argued that the denominations doctrine is equivalent in meaning to the reducibility doctrine. The denominations doctrine, I argue, has nothing to do it. ;It is my view that the denominations doctrine can be properly understood only from the perspective of two distinct theses, the inclusion thesis and the inherence thesis. From the standpoint of the inclusion thesis a denomination has a foundation in a denominated thing if and only if the concept of the denomination is included in the concept of the thing. From the standpoint of the inherence thesis a denomination has a foundation in a thing if and only if it refers to a modification that inheres in the thing, such that whenever a change occurs in the denominations of a thing, it must be accompanied by a change in its modifications. ;In the first chapter I present a historical overview on the range of prevailing opinion on the meaning of the denominations doctrine. In the second chapter some aspects of the Scholastic theory of denominations will be examined. In the third chapter some aspects of Leibniz's logic and ontology will be discussed. In the fourth chapter my interpretation of the meaning of the denominations doctrine will be introduced. In the fifth chapter the role of the denominations doctrine in the monadology will be considered