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Single Idea 7558

[filed under theme 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / c. Types of substance ]

Full Idea

Each substance is like a whole world, and like a mirror of God, or indeed of the whole universe, which each one expresses in its own fashion.

Gist of Idea

Substances mirror God or the universe, each from its own viewpoint

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (Discourse on Metaphysics [1686]), quoted by Nicholas Jolley - Leibniz Intro

Book Ref

Jolley,Nicholas: 'Leibniz' [Routledge 2005], p.3

A Reaction

Leibniz isn't a pantheist, so he does not identify God with the universe, so it is a bit revealing that substance could reflect either one or the other, and he doesn't seem to care which. In the end, for all the sophistication, he just made it up.

The 20 ideas with the same theme [varieties of entity that can count as substances]:

593 Plato's holds that there are three substances: Forms, mathematical entities, and perceptible bodies [Plato, by Aristotle]
594 Speusippus suggested underlying principles for every substance, and ended with a huge list [Speussipus, by Aristotle]
16140 Secondary substances do have subjects, so they are not ultimate in the ontology [Aristotle, by Frede,M]
10965 In earlier Aristotle the substances were particulars, not kinds [Aristotle, by Lawson-Tancred]
11036 A 'primary' substance is in each subject, with species or genera as 'secondary' substances [Aristotle]
16778 Mature Aristotle sees organisms as the paradigm substances [Aristotle, by Pasnau]
600 Elements and physical objects are substances, but ideas and mathematics are not so clear [Aristotle]
16084 Is a primary substance a foundation of existence, or the last stage of understanding? [Aristotle, by Gill,ML]
1681 Units are positionless substances, and points are substances with position [Aristotle]
16779 Cut wood doesn't make a new substance, but seems to make separate subjects [William of Ockham]
16616 Substances 'substand' (beneath accidents), or 'subsist' (independently) [Eustachius]
1196 We can conceive of three sorts of substance: God, finite intelligence, and bodies [Locke]
12536 We sort and name substances by nominal and not by real essence [Locke]
7558 Substances mirror God or the universe, each from its own viewpoint [Leibniz]
13171 Substance must necessarily involve progress and change [Leibniz]
13161 Substances are everywhere in matter, like points in a line [Leibniz]
4304 Descartes says there are two substance, Spinoza one, and Leibniz infinitely many [Cottingham]
7019 Maybe there is only one substance, space-time or a quantum field [Heil]
13068 We can ask for the nature of substance, about type of substance, and about individual substances [Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
16615 Scholastics use 'substantia' for thick concrete entities, and for thin metaphysical ones [Pasnau]