Leibniz on the Foundations of the Calculus: The Question Of the Reality of Infinitesimal Magnitudes

摘要

Among his achievements in all areas of learning, Leibniz's contributions to the development of European mathematics stand out as especially influen- tial. His idiosyncratic metaphysics may have won few adherents, but his place in the history of mathematics is sufficiently secure that historians of mathematics speak of the "Leibnizian school" of analysis and delineate a "Leibnizian tradition" in mathematics that extends well past the death of its founder. This great reputation rests almost entirely on Leibniz's contri- butions to be calculus.