ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Leibniz's gap

Hello there! Are you ready to learn something new? Today we're going to talk about Leibniz's Gap. So, what is it?

Well, Leibniz's Gap is a term used to describe the idea that there seems to be a gap or difference between physical objects and our thoughts about them. You see, philosophers like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz noticed that our minds can think about things that don't actually exist in the physical world, like unicorns or ghosts.

But, on the other hand, everything we experience in the physical world can be measured and observed. For example, we can see and touch a table, and we know it exists because it is something we can sense with our physical bodies.

So, this raises a big question: How can something that is not physical - like our thoughts about unicorns - exist if it cannot be observed or measured in the physical world?

To put it simply, it's like there's a "gap" between things that exist physically and things that exist only in our minds. And philosophers have been trying to figure out how to bridge this gap for a long time, but it's still a big mystery.

So, to sum it all up: Leibniz's Gap is the idea that there is a difference between things we experience through our senses and things we can only think about in our minds. It's a big problem for philosophers to solve, and it all boils down to the question of how our thoughts can exist if they can't be observed or measured in the physical world.