more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
My system of Pre-established Harmony furnishes a new proof of God's existence, since it is manifest that the agreement of so many substances, of which the one has no influence upon the other, could only come from a general cause on which they all depend.
Gist of Idea
All substances are in harmony, even though separate, so they must have one divine cause
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Principle of Life and Plastic Natures [1705], p.192)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Leibniz Selections', ed/tr. Wiener,Philip P. [Scribners 1951], p.192
A Reaction
Adjacent harmony seems self-explanatory, but remote harmony is interesting evidence for God. Hence modern quantum non-locality should make us all wonder whether there is a deeper explanation.
| 19416 | Not all of matter is animated, any more than a pond full of living fish is animated [Leibniz] |
| 19417 | All substances are in harmony, even though separate, so they must have one divine cause [Leibniz] |
| 19418 | Mechanics shows that all motion originates in other motion, so there is a Prime Mover [Leibniz] |
| 19420 | Death and generation are just transformations of an animal, augmented or diminished [Leibniz] |
| 19419 | Not all of perception is accompanied by consciousness [Leibniz] |
| 19421 | Souls act as if there were no bodies, and bodies act as if there were no souls [Leibniz] |
| 19422 | Every particle of matter contains organic bodies [Leibniz] |