Leibniz's basic idea is that final causes and mechanical/ efficient causes are not mutually exclusive, and that without final causes we would (in some cases) have incomplete knowledge. He notes, "It is not true that two substances may be … But, hey, that is exactly the point of reading philosophy! B, the heavier body, hits the ground. - P2. - From the definition of 'quantity of motion,' we know that, at their moments of impact, body A's quantity of motion is 1x2= 2, and B's quantity of motion is 4x1=4. By the way, Voltaire’s book is delicious and gets even better after reading this one. You don't really know what the concept Greg Frost-Arnold means if you din't know that I'm a human (as opposed to a toad, or a rock etc.) God creates a miracle [= He overrides the usual laws of nature] when the "cost" in simplicity (caused by violating one of the usual laws of nature) is less than the benefit of the goodness or perfection achieved by allowing such an exception. Leibniz of course recognizes that things appear to change one another -- the cold weather appears to be the cause of my sensation of cold, for example. Boring. In these two great works by the founder of modern German speculative philosophy, the reader is introduced to Leibniz's matephysics, including his conception of physical substance, the motion and resistance of bodies, and the role of the divine within the dynamic universe. Simplicity in science. Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays contains complete translations of the two essays that constitute the best introductions to Leibniz's complex thought: Discourse on Metaphysics of 1686 and Monadology of 1714. Monads can exist as determined, necessary, finite, or infinite beings. After 2 seconds, body A hits the ground, moving at 2 units of distance per second. A significant aspect in Leibniz’s Monadology and Discourse on Metaphysics, is his conception of simple substance and interaction. This is often referred to as ‘Leibniz’s Law’ and is typically understood to mean that no two objects have exactly the same properties. So if "Greg ate oatmeal this morning" is true, the concept of eating oatmeal this morning must be included in the concept Greg F-A. The force acquired by a body X in falling from point Y to point Z = the force required to raise X back up from Z to Y. He was very close to the Newtonian realty. July 26th 2005 So what if his "best of all possible worlds" philosophy looks silly nowadays (and even thenadays), and who cares if Newton be. A: God has arranged all the substances so that the perceptions in their souls 'fit together' or agree. by George R. Montgomery by Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716. Start by marking “Discourse on Metaphysics/The Monadology (Philosophical Classics)” as Want to Read: Error rating book. If you have a complete or perfect concept of Greg F-A, then you know ALL of his properties, past, present, and future. Two of Leibniz's most studied and often quoted works appear in this volume: Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology. a cloudless sky at noon is blue? | Summary Share. This is why Leibniz claims "IX: that every individual substance expresses the whole universe in its own manner", and that "every substance is like an entire world and a mirror of God." That is, with hindsight, since both texts weren't published during his lifetime. Suppose the body B contains 4 times as much matter as body A. A sentence in subject-predicate form (i.e., A is B, e.g. Another of Leibniz's example is the craftsman: to understand his work fully, we should understand BOTH his general plan and purpose, and how he puts the parts together to achieve that purpose. - This yields a natural account of miracles. Although I think Leibniz’s argument doesn’t quite succeed (due to the BCCF/MCCF objection), his ideas are great and since have been further developed into successful arguments for a necessary being (see the writings o. I read this book for Liebniz’s argument from contingency to a necessary being. Most philosophers (and other people who bother to think about it) think that in order to know what a particular substance is, there are some things about that thing you need to know, and others you don't. Fresh off the success of her World Fantasy Award–winning novel Witchmark comes a standalone romantic fantasy from author C.L. Leibniz claimed that all created Monads “have within them a certain perfection; there is a kind of self sufficiency which makes them the source of, God is infinite because he cannot be limited by another substance, because there are no two substances with identical attributes, such as mind and extension, which express his infinite essence (II/90). Although I think Leibniz’s argument doesn’t quite succeed (due to the BCCF/MCCF objection), his ideas are great and since have been further developed into successful arguments for a necessary being (see the writings of Joshua Rasmussen, Alexander Pruss and William Lane Craig). Anything less is an imperfect and incomplete concept. We saw this idea in Newton: if we merely look at changes of distances between bodies, we cannot determine which bodies are moving and which are at rest. Published in 1686, the Discourse on Metaphysics One of the 17th century's most important thinkers, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz exercised enormous influence on the philosophy of Herder, Feuerbach, and Hegel as well as on the writings of Schiller and Goethe. What about when I put my cold hands near a fire -- doesn't the fire cause my hands to warm up? Sign in. He was one of the most brilliant men of his era, or any era, and he had a mind that ranged far and wide. How does this analogy carry over to God's creation of the universe? Click to copy Key Takeaways. Rather, we already have all the ideas inside our minds -- when we learn, we become fully aware of them. Our minds, Leibniz says, have no "doors or windows. I read this book for Liebniz’s argument from contingency to a necessary being. But on Leibniz's view, this is not true, strictly speaking. C.L. Where I think Leibniz is too quick to use "the mysteries of God" as an answer to serious questions, the sheer accessibility of this text is actually really nice. Collection of two of Leibniz' most important writings. But, on the common sense view, you can know fully well what Greg F-A is, even if you don't know what I ate for breakfast this morning. Substances do not, strictly speaking, interact with each other. I also enjoyed his thoughts related to PSR, necessity, contingency, and how infinity factors in the discussion. Monads is better than his Metaphysics. If Descartes were right, the clay in a ball-shape would not be the same body if it were molded into a cylinder. So I replaced “god” by “nature” and kept reading the damn thing. - P3. Even if we grant Leibniz that we cannot explain the laws of nature without metaphysics, why think that we need to explain the laws of nature at all? In Leibniz's words, "God alone constitutes the relation or communication between substances" (XXXII). Monads are beings without parts, for which “neither extension, nor shape, nor divisibility is possible” (M3). Thus the only substance that exists, is God, because only the essence of God contain could contain all the attributes that define substance, otherwise we would not be able to conceive of him. Until recently whenever I thought of Leibniz, I thought of him as "that guy who Voltaire demolished in Candide," or "that guy who was embroiled in a priority dispute with Isaac Newton over the invention of calculus." The Identity of … A distinguishing feature of the mechanical philosophy is its rejection of final causes as empty and unilluminating (in our readings, Boyle makes this point explicitly). The whole world is thus contained in each individual substance as each represents the same universe and "the universe is in a way multiplied as … Publication date 1908 Topics Metaphysics Publisher Chicago : The Open Court Pub. A causal relationship between thought and extension is impossible because, extended things can only cause other extended things, while thoughts can only cause other thoughts. Co. Collection worksintranslation; americana Digitizing sponsor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Contributor … Where I think Leibniz is too quick to use "the mysteries of God" as an answer to serious questions, the sheer accessibility of this text is actually really nice. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (/ˈlaɪbnɪts/; German: [ˈɡɔtfʁiːt ˈvɪlhɛlm fɔn ˈlaɪbnɪts] or [ˈlaɪpnɪts]; July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German polymath and philosopher. Leibniz thinks we can know that God is absolutely perfect. Therefore, ideas are not based on extended things and extended things are not created by ideas (EII-P5, EII-P6). (XIV-XV) Because every substance already contains all its properties, one thing never changes another. Both works are short enough to be read quickly, and written in a way that is easily understood. For example, consider me (I am an individual substance). The rest of the book I’d give a three. So what if his "best of all possible worlds" philosophy looks silly nowadays (and even thenadays), and who cares if Newton beat him to calculus by a few years (we actually use the notation system created by Leibniz)? I also learned that the conservation of energy or the 3rd law of thermodynamics was known to ancient philosophers long before Boltzman. We are in 1686, Leibniz is talking about some properties/qualities of reality and its “god”. To bring DISCOMFORT (Thanks, B. Russell). Polk. Sign up. In offering an alternative metaphysics Leibniz draws heavily upon Scholastic philosophy, especially the notion of substantial form. Not very difficult to understand. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Share. This part alone is worth five stars (although it only covers a small portion of this book). This is a man who deserves respect. In other words, I wasn't giving this genius his due. To simply state, he distances himself from Cartesian subjectivity and Spinoza's monism in order to produce a philosophical system that carries a lot of similarities with the atomists (e.g.