Optics and Immanent Lawful Teleology

Abstract

Abstract This chapter begins with a discussion of Leibniz’s seminal Unitary Principle of Optics, Catoptrics and Dioptrics, published in 1682 in the Acta Eruditorum. In that piece, Leibniz shows how the central laws of geometrical optics—the laws of reflection and refraction—can be derived from an optimality principle according to which light takes the easiest path between its starting and ending points. After sketching the historical and technical context of Leibniz’s discoveries in optics, the chapter goes on to explore the implications of Leibniz’s discoveries for his views on teleology. It argues that Leibniz’s immanent lawful teleology presents a formidable challenge even to contemporary philosophers, many of whom are understandably reluctant to allow genuine teleological explanations at the level of fundamental physics.