impenetrable adj

1 not admitting of penetration or passage into or through; "an impenetrable fortress"; "impenetrable rain forests" [ant: penetrable]

2 permitting little if any light to pass through because of denseness of matter; "dense smoke"; "heavy fog"; "impenetrable gloom" [syn: dense, heavy]

3 impossible to understand; "impenetrable jargon"

English

Adjective

1. not penetrable

   The fortress is impenetrable, so it cannot be taken.

Antonyms

• penetrable

Translations

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.

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