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8 May 202022 August 2023

Note | Leibniz’s Monadology

To Solve Descartes’ Problem

To solve the contradiction of Descartes’ dualism, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz illustrated innumerable, undivided and minimum substances monad (from French monade).

It’s opposite direction of investigation to the monism of Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza’s substance as the God is independent, eternal and finite, so it is self-caused and is the one covers everything. But to explain diversity of the world, it’s more natural that there are innumerable monad than there’s the one substance.

Monadology

Monad owns unlimited connections and is unified by power. Monad exists by to reflect unlimited interconnections among monad and the entire universe. Monad is living mirror of the universe, is not an only a point of space. In stead of independent substance by Descartes or Spinoza, monad has independent motion. Monad is substance can move by itself. Atom of Democritus or Lucretius is minimal physical particle can be divided. Differ from atom, monad is immaterial, unphysical and undivided essence to construct things.

Monad is a sensual thing, so it causes voluntary motion or change. Monad is subject of motion, and its condition is developed and changed by an internal principle of itself.

Changing of monad is not related to and is not affected by other monads. So, Leibniz stated “Monads are windowless”. Monad is not being or existence, it’s the motion is consist of mind and things.

By their function of “expression”, monads realize the diversity of the world. Monads can’t be changed by each other. Monad reflects and expresses the whole universe, there’s no diversity and differences of meaning or content. But monads are varied by differences of a perspective reflects in the whole and in a degree of awakening.

References

Jean-François Revel, Histoire de la philosophie occidentale (Nil Éditions, 1994)

Luc Ferry & Claude Capelier, La plus belle histoire de la philosophie (Éditions Points, 2014)

Roger-Pol Droit, Une brève histoire de la philosophie (Flammarion, 2008)

Bertrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy (Simon & Schuster, 1972)

Nigel Warburton, A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2011)

Roger Scruton, A Short History of Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2002)

Gen Kida, History of Anti-Philosophy (Kodansha Academic Library, 2000)

Seiji Takeda & Ken Nishi, The First Histoty of Philosophy: To Think Profoundly (Yuhikaku, 1998)

Shigeto Nuki, Illustrated & Standard History of Philosophy (Shinshokan, 2008)

Shigeto Nuki, Philosophy Map (Chikuma New Books, 2004)

Sumihiko Kumano, The History of Western Philosophy: From The Ancient to The Middle Ages (Iwanami New Books, 2006)

Sumihiko Kumano, The History of Western Philosophy: From The Modern Ages to The Present Day (Iwanami New Books, 2006)

Thierry Paquot & François Pépin, Dictionnaire Larousse de la Philosophie (Éditions Larousse, 2011)

Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition Revised), (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Thomas Mautner, The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Penguin Books, 2005)

Note | Spinoza’s Monism

Problem of Descartes’ Dualism

On philosophy of Descartes, substance is divided in to two things, mind and body. Mind-body dualism is natural and comprehensible. But there’s a philosophical consequential problem. By Descartes’ dualism, connection between mind and body is unclear and uncertain.

So Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz tried to solute the problem by monism.

Spinoza’s Monism

By Descartes, substance is independent thing. And there are two kinds of substance. But mind and body are interdependence things. Descartes’ dualism is a contradiction of definition.

Spinoza considered substance is one, the one is the God. Substance has independence is not affected by anything. So substance is not restricted by other things, and it’s infinite. Then it’s infinite, unlimited and eternal, so it must be the only one, it’s the God.

Substance is only one. For Spinoza, Descartes’ mind and body are one thing. Mind and body are different aspects of reflection of substance by different aspects of view.