Body and Corporeal Substance

Author(s):  
Daniel Garber

This chapter discusses Leibniz’s conception of body and the closely related concept of corporeal substance. Leibniz saw problems with Descartes’s and Hobbes’s view and introduced a new conception of body based on a metaphysical argument that multiplicity presupposes unities, leading Leibniz to the view that extended bodies are made up of corporeal substances, genuine unities on the model of living animals, and a physical argument that the proper laws of nature require forces, active and passive in bodies; thus, that extended bodies are to be understood in terms of corporeal substances considered as unities of form (active force) and matter (passive force). The chapter traces the development of this view of body as Leibniz introduces monads as metaphysically more fundamental than corporeal substances and struggles to integrate them into the world of nonextended monads.

Author(s):  
Richard T. W. Arthur

This chapter treats various issues concerning Leibniz’s accounts of force and of corporeal substance: the status of passive force, given that substance is a thing that acts, how extension is founded in force, and the issue of substantial bonds. It is argued that Leibniz’s position is that an entelechy can never act in isolation: its action must always take into consideration the actions of the other created substances with which it coexists. Extension arises from the resistance to penetration resulting from the diffusion of entelechies and passive forces throughout matter, while the unity and continuity of body is relative to the observer. Leibniz does not propose substantial bonds out of dissatisfaction with this standard account, but in an attempt to satisfy the Jesuits’ demand for the real union of body and soul, which ultimately conflicts with the actuality of subordinate forms implicit in his own position.


Author(s):  
Kolarkar Rajesh Shivajirao ◽  
Kolarkar Rajashree Rajesh

The perfect balance of Mind and body is considered as complete health in Pāli literature as well as in Ayurveda. Pāli literature and Ayurveda have their own identity as most ancient and traditional system of medicine in India.The universal teachings of the Buddha are the most precious legacy ancient India gave to the world. The teachings are a practical code of conduct, a way of purity and of gracious living. There is a scientific study of the truth pertaining to mind and matter, and the ultimate truth beyond. In fact, the Buddha should be more appropriately known as a super-scientist who studied the entire laws of nature governing the Universe, by direct personal experience. The Buddha's rational teachings are clearly explained in the Eight-fold Noble Path, divided in three divisions of Sīla (morality), Samādhi (mastery over the mind), Paññā i.e. ‘Pragya' (purification of the mind, by developing insight). In Ayurveda Psychotherapy can be done by Satvavajaya Chikitsa and good conduct. Aim is to augment the Satva Guna in order to correct the imbalance in state of Rajas (Passion) and Tamas (Inertia). Sattvavajaya as psychotherapy, is the mental restraint, or a "mind control" as referred by Caraka, as well as Vagbhata is achieved Dnyan (education), Vidnyan (training in developing skill), Dhairya (development of coping mechanism), Smruti (memory enhancement), Samadhi (concentration of mind). According to WHO, Mental disorders are the common problem. The burden of mental disorders continues to grow with significant impacts on health and major social, human rights and economic consequences in all countries of the world.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (1) ◽  
pp. C74-C78 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Joumaa ◽  
D. E. Rassier ◽  
T. R. Leonard ◽  
W. Herzog

The aim of the present study was to test whether titin is a calcium-dependent spring and whether it is the source of the passive force enhancement observed in muscle and single fiber preparations. We measured passive force enhancement in troponin C (TnC)-depleted myofibrils in which active force production was completely eliminated. The TnC-depleted construct allowed for the investigation of the effect of calcium concentration on passive force, without the confounding effects of actin-myosin cross-bridge formation and active force production. Passive forces in TnC-depleted myofibrils ( n = 6) were 35.0 ± 2.9 nN/ μm2 when stretched to an average sarcomere length of 3.4 μm in a solution with low calcium concentration (pCa 8.0). Passive forces in the same myofibrils increased by 25% to 30% when stretches were performed in a solution with high calcium concentration (pCa 3.5). Since it is well accepted that titin is the primary source for passive force in rabbit psoas myofibrils and since the increase in passive force in TnC-depleted myofibrils was abolished after trypsin treatment, our results suggest that increasing calcium concentration is associated with increased titin stiffness. However, this calcium-induced titin stiffness accounted for only ∼25% of the passive force enhancement observed in intact myofibrils. Therefore, ∼75% of the normally occurring passive force enhancement remains unexplained. The findings of the present study suggest that passive force enhancement is partly caused by a calcium-induced increase in titin stiffness but also requires cross-bridge formation and/or active force production for full manifestation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. MacNaughton ◽  
B. R. MacIntosh

Relative force depression associated with muscle fatigue is reported to be greater when assessed at short vs. long muscle lengths. This appears to be due to a rightward shift in the force-length relationship. This rightward shift may be caused by stretch of in-series structures, making sarcomere lengths shorter at any given muscle length. Submaximal force-length relationships (twitch, double pulse, 50 Hz) were evaluated before and after repetitive contractions (50 Hz, 300 ms, 1/s) in an in situ preparation of the rat medial gastrocnemius muscle. In some experiments, fascicle lengths were measured with sonomicrometry. Before repetitive stimulation, fascicle lengths were 11.3 ± 0.8, 12.8 ± 0.9, and 14.4 ± 1.2 mm at lengths corresponding to −3.6, 0, and 3.6 mm where 0 is a reference length that corresponds with maximal active force for double-pulse stimulation. After repetitive stimulation, there was no change in fascicle lengths; these lengths were 11.4 ± 0.8, 12.6 ± 0.9, and 14.2 ± 1.2 mm. The length dependence of fatigue was, therefore, not due to a stretch of in-series structures. Interestingly, the rightward shift that was evident when active force was calculated in the traditional way (subtraction of the passive force measured before contraction) was not seen when active force was calculated by subtracting the passive force that was associated with the fascicle length reached at the peak of the contraction. This calculation is based on the assumption that passive force decreases as the fascicles shorten during a fixed-end contraction. This alternative calculation revealed similar postfatigue absolute active force depression at all lengths. In relative terms, a length dependence of fatigue was still evident, but this was greatly diminished compared with that observed when active force was calculated with the traditional method.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
D. V. Mukhetdinov

In the present article we are going look at the interpretation of the theology of Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) undertaken by the Indonesian scholar Harun Nasution (1919–1998). Nasution compares Abduh’s position to neo- Mutazilism, relying on the treatise “Risālah al- Tawḥid”. Nasution carries out a step-by-step interpretation of the most popular “exoteric” work of the Egyptian thinker, proving the rationalist character of his theological system. From the point of view of Nasution, the division of the human race into the elect and commoners characteristic of Abduh is intended to confi rm the special ontological status of people endowed with high culture and advanced intellectual abilities. The elect are able to comprehend the entire area of intelligible being, which includes both God with his attributes and the created world. From this follows the limited, confi rmatory character of Revelation. It does not so much reveal to people a hitherto unfamiliar truth as confi rms (legitimizes) the knowledge already available to the Elect. Nasution believes that Abduh’s views on human freedom and divine justice are in confl ict with Asharism. Man is the source of his own actions, he is given the freedom to independently determine his own destiny. Allah Almighty rules the world through the eternal laws of nature, sunan, and prefers not to interfere in the aff airs of people directly, although he is interested in their welfare. The article concludes with critical remarks challenging the interpretive model proposed by Nasution and other neoMutazilite scholars of Abduh.


Dialogue ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bigelow

Recently, Brian Ellis came up with a neat and novel idea about laws of nature, which at first I misunderstood. Then I participated, with Brian Ellis and Caroline Lierse, in writing a joint paper, “The World as One of a Kind: Natural Necessity and Laws of Nature” (Ellis, Bigelow and Lierse, forthcoming). In this paper, the Ellis idea was formulated in a different way from that in which I had originally interpreted it. Little weight was placed on possible worlds or individual essences. Much weight rested on natural kinds. I thought Ellis to be suggesting that laws of nature attribute essential properties to one grand individual, The World. In fact, Ellis is hostile towards individual essences for any individuals at all, including The World. He is comfortable only with essential properties of kinds, rather than individuals. The Ellis conjecture was that laws of nature attribute essential properties to the natural kind of which the actual world is one (and presumably the only) member.


Author(s):  
Amos Funkenstein

This chapter explores how eternal truths are created in a radical sense of the word; even mathematical theorems are contingent upon God’s will. What the most radical defenders of divine omnipotence in the Middle Ages hardly ever asserted, Descartes did without hesitation: that God could invalidate the most basic mathematical operations. Meanwhile, Spinoza argued that divine omnipotence and necessity of nature are one and the same, since all that is really possible in the world is also as necessary as any mathematical truth. The chapter shows how medieval theology introduced the distinction between the two aspects of God’s power so as to enlarge as far as possible the horizon of that which is possible to God without violating reason.


Author(s):  
Ana Mantero ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Arts ◽  

Klee and Kandinsky, companions in adventure both in the world of painting and music, opened the paths of creation and built the beginning of an epistemology of art. From this intense intellectual and artistic exchange sprang a strong inspiration that heard the echoes of the cosmological order as reflected in the mysteries of nature and the sounds of the human soul. It is worth finding the counterpoint of their investigations, carefully written down at the time they taught together at the Bauhaus. Explorers of secret worlds, listeners of inaudible sounds, they discovered the profound similarities between the laws of nature and the arts.


Author(s):  
David Gillis

This chapter examines what the idea of man as microcosm means for the place of the commandments in Maimonides' scheme of things. Mishneh torah's microcosmic form reflects the various parallels that Maimonides draws more or less explicitly in The Guide of the Perplexed between the laws of nature and the law of the Torah: both are perfect; both are permanent; both are accessible to reason. It implies the Torah's derivation from nature via the uniquely comprehensive prophecy of Moses, who understood God's governance of the world more perfectly than anyone before or since and translated this understanding into a system of laws. Despite Maimonides' programmatic remarks about ease of reference and so forth, the classification of the commandments in Mishneh torah is above all a rationalization of the commandments. Through its form, Mishneh torah presents them sub specie aeternitatis: they condense the rationality of the cosmos. Its treatment is to be distinguished from mystical interpretations that link the commandments to a supernal domain rather than to nature.


2019 ◽  
pp. 58-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Harrison

The appeal to laws of nature as an explanatory principle is often regarded as fundamental to naturalism. Yet when the idea that there were immutable, mathematical laws of nature first rose to prominence in the seventeenth century it was deeply connected to a theological understanding of natural order. Descartes thus imagined laws of nature to be divine commands, and attributed their immutability to the immutability of their divine source. For Descartes, Boyle, and Newton, the invariable uniformity of nature was understood as a consequence not of God’s withdrawal from the world, but of his direct and incessant engagement with it. It followed that the world was to be investigated empirically, because this was the only way in which the otherwise inscrutable will of God could be discerned. Over the course of the following centuries, however, laws came to be reimagined as simply observational generalizations, or brute features of the natural world.


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