Leibniz’s notion of the infinite and the problem of fictionality

Abstract

Dániel Schmal’s paper poses the question of why Leibniz assigned no reality to the infinitely small numbers used in the infinitesimal calculus. He argues that Leibniz’s position can be understood not so much from his mathematics but rather from his metaphysics and epistemology. Seen from this perspective, it is a common feature of the phenomena of everyday life and infinitely small numbers that they lack unity, therefore they are both categorized as well supported fictions without reality in Leibniz’s philosophy.