Full Idea
Philosophy cannot be better reduced to something precise, than by recognising only substances or complete beings endowed with a true unity, with different states that succeed one another; all else is phenomena, abstractions or relations.
Gist of Idea
Philosophy needs the precision of the unity given by substances
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Antoine Arnauld [1686], 1687.04.30), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 7
Book Reference
Garber,Daniel: 'Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad' [OUP 2009], p.294
A Reaction
This idea bothers me. Has the whole of modern philosophy been distorted by this yearning for 'precision'? It has put mathematicians and logicians in the driving seat. Do we only attribute unity because it suits our thinking?