Leibniz’s philosophy

Leibniz grounds his philosophy on the conception of substance as well as Spinoza. But unlike Spinoza he said that the extent can't be an attribute of some single substance because it's always the attribute of plural and therefore it's rejected as the attribute for the one single substance but introduced for their multitude. The second attribute the consciousness (perception) is restored referring to one single substance and thus we get an infinite multitude of substances which Leibniz called monads. The monads are not simply physical points but souls. Thus from the matter Leibniz passes to the infinite souls' totality. Particular monads are completely isolated from each other, "have no windows" as Leibniz said. Their interaction is an illusion. Their synchronicity isn't begot by interaction but by the so-called "preinstalled harmony". The latter implies that every monad reflects the whole Universe in itself and there exists 'preinstalled harmony' between changes in one single monad and all other world.

Monads create hierarchy: the higher differ from the lower by more clearness and distinctiveness of perception. The absolute clearness and distinctiveness is inherent to only one, the First or Absolute Monad engendering all other monads, i.e. to God. A human and its body consist of many different monads but only one single the soul rules them. Monads are deathless and can exist not only in actual (real) but also in rolled up states. The space and time as they come to our perception do not exist. But monads reflect each other everyone from its own point of view. The hierarchy of these points of reflection creates some three-dimensioned order of their distribution relatively each other. This is the space we perceive. The time is analogically. There are no two identical monads because the monads are subdued to the principle of the indistinguishables identity (according to which two quite identical monads are one selfsame monad).

There are many different worlds. A world exists if its existence does not contradict logic's laws. The elements of the world are substances or monads which are determined as sets of logical predicates. The preinstalled harmony is expressed through logic's laws. In logic Leibniz added the sufficient ground's law. The sufficient ground in the world is determined as a sort of extremum principle. The latter displays itself that the only variants combinable with a maximum of others are realized. Let us imagine events A and B mismatched with each other. Thereat A can coexist with C, D, E; B only with L. What event will be realized? Of course A. "Existence is the being combinable with the most quantity of things" said Leibniz. Leibniz also believed that all philosophy could and should be brought to logic that would permit to reduce all philosophical discussions to accounts as it's in mathematics.

Leibniz was also interested in theology and put up four proofs of God: 1) ontological; 2) cosmological (causal); 3) the argument of the eternal truths and 4) the argument of the preinstalled harmony. He believed that we live in the best of all possible worlds in which the only necessary evil (without which the good also would be less) exists. About this the English XX century philosopher Bradley spoke ironically "We live in the best of all worlds and all in it is the necessary evil".

Date: 2014-12-21; view: 1255