Download - Leibniz Lecture 2 - uh.edu
Outline
• Humans’specialknowledge• TheNatureofGod:Power,Knowledge,Will
• Humansandcreatedmonads
• God’sCrea@on• TheBeautyofNature
Humans’Knowledge
• Knowledgeofnecessarytruthsandabstrac6ons• Twogreatprinciples: Contradic6on(31) SufficientReason(32)
• Twokindsoftruths:(33) Truthsofreasoning Truthsoffact
• Truthsoffactcouldbeknownonlythroughaninfiniteanalysis(36‐7);“Thereforethesufficientorul6matereasonmustneedsbeoutsideofthesequence”
• ThismustbeGod(38)
TheNatureofGod:Power,Knowledge,Will(48)
• Power:Sourceofeverything• Knowledge:containsdetailsoftheideas• Will:changesorproducesthingsinaccordancewiththeprinciplesofthegreatestgood
• Theul6matereasonforthings(38)• Thesupremesubstance(40)• Unique,universal,necessary,withnothingindependentoutsideofit(40)
• Containsasmuchrealityaspossible(40)
God’sNature(cont’d)
• Thesourceofexistencesandalsoofessences(43)• God’sknowledgeisthesourceofrealityinessences,possibili6es,andeternaltruths(44)
• ForGodalone,ifhebepossible,hemustnecessarilyexist(anaprioriproofofGod’sexistence)45
• EternaltruthsarenotdependentonGod’swill(asDescartesthinks);rather,they“dependsolelyuponhisunderstandingandaretheinnerobjectsofit”(46)
• Con6ngenttruthsdodependonGod’swill—they“dependuponfitnessorthechoiceofthegreatestgood”(46)
CreatedMonads
• Humansandcreatedmonads:(ComparetoGod’sadributes,48) Subjectorbasis Percep6on Appe66on
• Ac6oninacreatedmonad:greaterperfec6on=clearpercep6ons
• Passion/passivity=lessdis6nctorconfusedpercep6ons(49)
• Greaterperfec6on:Onethingcontainsapriorithereasonforsomethingintheotherthing(50)
CreatedMonads(cont’d.)
• Createdmonads“interac6ons”areonlyideal(51)• Ac6onandpassioninmonadsarereciprocalthroughGod(52)
• Everymonad“isaperpetuallivingmirroroftheuniverse”(56)
• Monads’percep6ons“inaconfusedway…reachouttoinfinity”butarelimitedanddifferen6atedinthedegreeoftheirdis6nctpercep6ons”(60).
• Allspaceisfilledup,allbodiesintercommunicate“sothathewhosawallcouldreadineachonewhatishappeningeverywhere,andevenwhathashappenedandwhatwillhappen.”(61)
God’sCrea6on(SeealsoDiscourseI‐V)
• Godmusthavechosentocreatethebestfromamonganinfinitenumberofpossibleuniverses(53)
• Thischoiceisduetofitnessordegreeofperfec6on(54)• “Thisisthecausefortheexistenceofthegreatestgood;
namely,thatthewisdomofGodpermitshimtoknowit,hisgoodnesscauseshimtochooseit,andhispowerenableshimtoproduceit.”
• Aninfinitenumberofuniversesareactuallythesameuniverseseenfromtheperspec6veofeachmonad(57).
• Goodnessoftheuniverse:greatestpossiblevarietytogetherwithgreatestorder(58).
TheBeautyofNature
• Eachbodyrepresentstheen6reuniverse;thesoulmonadrepresentsmoredis6nctlythebodyofwhichitistheentelechy,andalsothroughthis,theen6reuniverse(62).
• Body+Soul=Livingbeing,animal(63)• “Everyorganicbodyofalivingbeingisakindofdivine
machineornaturalautomaton,infinitelysurpassingallar6ficialautomatons”(64)
• “Thereisaworldofcreatedthings…intheminutestpar6cleofmader”(65)
• “Everypor6onofmadermaybeconceivedaslikeagardenfullofplantsandlikeapondfulloffish.”(66)
• “Thereisnothinguncul6vated,orsterileordeadintheuniverse,nochaos,noconfusion,saveinappearance”(69).