more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
A multiplicity can only be made up of true unities, ..so I had recourse to the idea of a real and animated point, or an atom of substance which must embrace some element of form or of activity in order to make a complete being.
Gist of Idea
Reality must be made of basic unities, which will be animated, substantial points
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (New System and Explanation of New System [1696], p.116)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Parkinson,G.H.R. [Dent 1973], p.116
A Reaction
This seems to be a combination of logical atomism and panpsychism. It has a certain charm, but looks like another example of these rationalist speculators overreaching themselves.
| 5044 | Reality must be made of basic unities, which will be animated, substantial points [Leibniz] |
| 5043 | To regard animals as mere machines may be possible, but seems improbable [Leibniz] |
| 5045 | No machine or mere organised matter could have a unified self [Leibniz] |
| 5046 | The soul does know bodies, although they do not influence one another [Leibniz] |