http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz/#PriCont
Continuity was necessary for Leibniz's infinitesimal calculus. Although at first it might seem to rule out QM, and it would be problematic for atomic structures, but in these it only applies to particles. The quantum wave field is a probability field which is smooth and continuous. "Principle of Continuity According to Leibniz, there are “two famous labyrinths where our reason very often goes astray.” (G VI 29/H 53) The first concerns human freedom, the latter the composition of the continuum. Leibniz, however, thought that he had found the way out of each labyrinth, and his solution to the problem of the continuum is related ultimately to a maxim or law that he employs not only in his mathematical writings but also in his metaphysics. As he puts it in the Preface to the New Essays, “Nothing takes place suddenly, and it is one of my great and best confirmed maxims that nature never makes leaps.” (A VI vi 56/RB 56) More exactly, Leibniz believes that this law or principle implies that any change passes through some intermediate change and that there is an actual infinity in things. The Principle of Continuity will be employed to show that no motion can arise from a state of complete rest and that “noticeable perceptions arise by degrees from ones which are too minute to be noticed.” (ibid.)" Dr. Roger B Clough NIST (ret.) [1/1/2000] See my Leibniz site at http://independent.academia.edu/RogerClough- Roger Clough ____________________________________________________________________ DreamMail - Your mistake not to try it once, but my mistake for your leaving off. use again www.dreammail.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
