leibniz

A detailed Summary of leibniz

The Monadology attempts to define the ultimate substance of the world. The first part of The Monadology explains what a monad is, whereas, the second part of The Monadology concentrates on metaphysical principles. All that there is in the universe consists of monads, which there are an infinite number of them. A monad is a simple, indivisible substance. It can also be thought of as "the true atom of nature, in brief, the elements of things" (Leibniz, 1714:285).

"Whatever, is, was and will be true of a substance follows as a matter of certainty from the nature of that substance" (Enoch). They have a certain type of perfection to them. Monads have an infinite number of properties; they have all the properties that they will ever need to exhibit during the course of their existence. Therefore, all their properties are built in at the beginning of their existence. This means that they have a substantial form and ultimately have a final cause. Their final cause is the end that they are trying to reach.

Monads have "no window through which something can enter or leave" (Leibniz, 1714:292). This means that there is no way in which another monad may externally cause any change to another. If that's the case then it seems that

I think that Leibniz did a fairly good job at proving to the reader that whatever is, was, and will be true of a monad is a result of the nature of the monad. Monads have nothing but changes and perceptions within them. The perceptions are not within a composite but only in the simple substance itself. Therefore, any change that occurs internally, and not externally. As a result of this internal principle, Leibniz feels comfortable calling monads "enetlechies, for they have in themselves a certain perfection; they have a sufficiency that makes them the sources of their internal actions" (Leibniz, 1714: 286). They are self-sufficient and self-developing. Within in them there is a system that was preordained. Their creator preordained this system, and to Leibniz this creator was God. The proof of God was also provided by Leibniz, but I don't think its necessary for me to get into that.

Knowledge of necessary truth furnishes man with reason/mind and the sciences. Man's reasoning is based on two principles: contradiction and sufficient reason. In addition, there are two types of truths: reasoning and fact. Truths of reasoning can be found through analysis. This is a process where one simplifies a substance or idea until they reach the first and most primitives of the ideas. Even bodies can be broken down to infinity of simple substances. Within this process of simplification there can be boundless amount of detail. This detail may go very far back in time, to more prior, and more detailed contingents. Each contingent must be analyzed in it of itself in order to give reason for it. Sufficient or ultimate reason must be outside of this process of simplifying, no matter how infinite it may be or how far back in time one may go. Therefore, there must be one simple substance in which all these

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Approximate Word count = 1220
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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