POTENZA E ATTO. L’INFINITO IN ARISTOTELE E LEIBNIZ

Abstract

Leibniz articulates a peculiar conception of infinity, one that is simultaneously potential and actual. How can such a notion be coherent? This is possible insofar as the potential aspect corresponds to Aristotle’s notion of potential infinity (potentiality A), understood as processual or syncategorematic. The actual aspect, however, refers to a different kind of potentiality (potentiality L), which Leibniz attributes to the infinite in addition to potentiality A.