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Full Idea
Everything takes place in souls as if there were no body, and everything takes place in bodies as if there were no souls.
Gist of Idea
Souls act as if there were no bodies, and bodies act as if there were no souls
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Principle of Life and Plastic Natures [1705], p.198)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Leibniz Selections', ed/tr. Wiener,Philip P. [Scribners 1951], p.198
A Reaction
I don't think I have ever encountered a modern thinker who accepts this view. Leibniz rejected Occasionalism, but his account depends entirely on the role of God, to set up the pre-established harmony. Why would God do that?
| 21860 | Ideas and things have identical connections and order [Spinoza] |
| 5038 | Assume that mind and body follow their own laws, but God has harmonised them [Leibniz] |
| 2596 | Maybe mind and body are parallel, like two good clocks [Leibniz] |
| 5046 | The soul does know bodies, although they do not influence one another [Leibniz] |
| 19350 | We should say that body is mechanism and soul is immaterial, asserting their independence [Leibniz] |
| 19421 | Souls act as if there were no bodies, and bodies act as if there were no souls [Leibniz] |
| 19351 | Perfections of soul subordinate the body, but imperfections of soul submit to the body [Leibniz] |
| 3449 | If parallelism is true, how does the mind know about the body? [Crease] |