ONT Re: Hermeneutic Equivalence Classes
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| Leibniz, "Elements of a Calculus" (cont.)
|
| 3. Let there be assigned to any term its
| symbolic number ['numerus characteristicus'],
| to be used in calculation as the term itself is
| used in reasoning. I choose numbers whilst writing;
| in due course I will adapt other signs both to numbers
| and to speech itself. For the moment, however, numbers
| are of the greatest use, because of their certainty and
| of the ease with which they can be handled, and because
| in this way it is evident to the eye that everything is
| certain and determinate in the case of concepts, as it
| is in the case of numbers.
|
| 4. The one rule for discovering suitable symbolic numbers is this:
| that when the concept of a given term is composed directly of
| the concepts of two or more other terms, then the symbolic
| number of the given term should be produced by multiplying
| together the symbolic numbers of the terms which compose
| the concept of the given term.
|
| For example, since man is a rational animal,
| if the number of animal, 'a', is 2, and of
| rational, 'r', is 3, then the number of
| man, 'h', will be the same as 'ar':
| in this example, 2 x 3, or 6.
|
| Again, since gold is the heaviest metal,
| if the number of metal, 'm', is 3, and
| the number of heaviest, 'p', is 5, then
| the number of gold, 's', will be the
| same as 'mp', i.e. in this example
| 3 x 5, or 15.
|
| [Ed. Leibniz here refers to gold by its alchemical name, 'Sol'.]
|
| Leibniz, 'Logical Papers', pp. 17-18.
|
| Leibniz, G.W., "Elements of a Calculus" (April, 1679),
| G.H.R. Parkinson (ed.), 'Leibniz: Logical Papers', pp. 17-24,
| Oxford University Press, London, UK, 1966. (Couturat, 49-57).
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