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Full Idea
It is for lack of reflection on themselves that beasts have no moral qualities.
Gist of Idea
Animals lack morality because they lack self-reflection
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (Discourse on Metaphysics [1686], §34)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Parkinson,G.H.R. [Dent 1973], p.43
A Reaction
Interesting, but I think this is false. I would say animals do have a sense of their self, because that is the most basic feature of any mind, but what they lack is second-order thought, that is, ability to reflect on and judge their own beliefs and acts.
7558 | Substances mirror God or the universe, each from its own viewpoint [Leibniz] |
2119 | People argue for God's free will, but it isn't needed if God acts in perfection following supreme reason [Leibniz] |
5023 | Future contingent events are certain, because God foresees them, but that doesn't make them necessary [Leibniz] |
12711 | The immediate cause of movements is more real [than geometry] [Leibniz] |
5024 | Knowledge doesn't just come from the senses; we know the self, substance, identity, being etc. [Leibniz] |
5025 | Mind and body can't influence one another, but God wouldn't intervene in the daily routine [Leibniz] |
5026 | Animals lack morality because they lack self-reflection [Leibniz] |
5027 | If a person's memories became totally those of the King of China, he would be the King of China [Leibniz] |
13088 | Subjects include predicates, so full understanding of subjects reveals all the predicates [Leibniz] |
13085 | Leibniz is some form of haecceitist [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne] |
19349 | The complete notion of a substance implies all of its predicates or attributes [Leibniz] |
16761 | Forms are of no value in physics, but are indispensable in metaphysics [Leibniz] |
19342 | Reason avoids multiplying hypotheses or principles [Leibniz] |