impenetrability

1 resistance to penetration by a liquid [syn: imperviousness] [ant: penetrability, penetrability]

2 incomprehensibility by virtue of being too dense to understand [syn: impenetrableness]

English

Noun

1. The characteristic of being impenetrable; invulnerability.

In metaphysics, impenetrability is the name given to that quality of matter whereby two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The philosopher John Toland argued that impenetrability and extension were sufficient to define matter, a contention strongly disputed by Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz.

"Locke considered impenetrability to be ''"more a consequence of solidity, than solidity itself."[2]

See also

• Locke's views on extension
• Interpenetration

References

1. Locke on Materialism
2. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (by Locke)
3. Heinemann, F. H. "Toland and Leibniz." The Philosophical Review, Vol. 54, No. 5. (Sep., 1945), pp. 437-457.