Time&Eternity

notes to chapter 3 285
nal cinemas” in which images are transmitted by means of sensory nerves. God’s perception
of world events, on the other hand, must occur more directly. For this reason, Newton
declared all space to be the sensorium Dei (ibid., xvi). The sensorium idea is thus an expression
of an image of God that places the omnipresence of the almighty God in the
forefront.
76. Such summarizing entails risks. Depending upon the interpretation, very diverse
concepts apply. Thus, for example, Achtner, Kunz, and Walter, Dimensions of Time, 111,
speak of Newton’s complete idealization of time, and thereby mean universality,
quantification, and symmetry. Leibniz, on the other hand, condemns Clarke and respectively
Newton, precisely because of a realization of time (Gerhardt, Die philosophischen
Schriften, 363), and characterizes his own relative concept of time as being ideal (415).
77. Newton speaks of the sequence of time segments (Newton, Mathematical Principles,
16).
78. Thus in his third letter, sec. 4, Gerhardt, Die philosophischen Schriften, 363; Alexander,
ed., The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, 25f.
79. Examples of accounts of and commentaries on this correspondence: Alexander,
ed., The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, ix–lv; Koyré, From the Closed World, 235–72;
Manzke, Ewigkeit und Zeitlichkeit, 86–98.
80. In the following discussion, I refer sometimes to the edition by Gerhardt, Die
philosophischen Schriften, which presents Leibniz’s writings in French and Clarke’s replies in
English, and sometimes to the 1956 Alexander edition, The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence,
which has an introduction and commentary by Alexander, and which was based on A
COLLECTION OF PAPERS which passed between the late Learned Mr. LEIBNITZ AND
Dr. CLARKE in the years 1715 and 1716 relating to the PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHI-
LOSOPHY AND RELIGION With an Appendix, by SAMUEL CLARKE, London, MDC-
CXVII. Here, the original French letters of Leibniz were probably translated into English
by Clarke himself (Koryé, From the Closed World, 300n2). To facilitate the use of various
text editions, in addition to citing page numbers, I have also referenced the letter (L or C
i–v). Although in the body of my study I cite all the passages from the Alexander edition,
I have included in the footnotes some of the French citations when they have seemed more
appropriate.
81. The extent to which Clarke is acting as a direct mouthpiece for Newton (thus
Koyré, From the Closed World, 300n3) or defending or further developing his own understanding
of Newton has not been considered here, for we are not concerned with the person
of Newton, but rather with a debate of an issue.
82. Alexander, ed., The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, 11; cf. Gerhardt, Die
philosophischen Schriften, 352 L i: “[p]lusieurs font les ames corporelles, d’autres font Dieu
luy même corporel.”
83. Gerhardt, Die philosophischen Schriften, 352 L I; cf. Alexander, ed., The Leibniz-
Clarke Correspondence, 12: “the beautiful pre-established order.”
84. Alexander, ed., The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, 13 C I, sec. 3. In his second response,
Clarke adds that, while the human soul is present to the images of things, God per
se is present to all things without thereby being the soul of the world (intelligentia mundana),
21ff., C ii, sec. 3ff.
85. Ibid., 14 C i, sec. 4.
86. On the history of space theories in physics, cf. Jammer, Concepts of Space.
87. This becomes particularly clear, for example, in Clarke’s second response, in which
he initially admits that he is concerned not only with the power but also with the wisdom
of God as the source of creation; he then, however, continues, “but the wisdom of God
consists, in framing originally the perfect and complete idea of a work, .l.l. by the continu