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Single Idea 12921

[filed under theme 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / b. Unifying aggregates ]

Full Idea

There are degrees of accidental unity, and an ordered society has more unity than a chaotic mob, and an organic body or a machine has more unity than a society.

Gist of Idea

Accidental unity has degrees, from a mob to a society to a machine or organism

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Antoine Arnauld [1686], 1687.04.30)

Book Ref

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'The Leibniz-Arnauld Correspondence', ed/tr. Mason,HT/Parkinson,GHR [Manchester UP 1967], p.126

A Reaction

This immediately invites questions about the extremes. Why does the very highest degree of 'accidental unity' not achieve 'true unity'? And why cannot a very ununified aggregate have a bit of unity (as in unrestricted mereological composition)?

Related Idea

Idea 12743 A true being must (unlike a chain) have united parts, with a substantial form as its subject [Leibniz]

The 476 ideas from Gottfried Leibniz

19392 I don't recommend universal doubt; we constantly seek reasons for things which are indubitable [Leibniz]
12735 Everything has a fixed power, as required by God, and by the possibility of reasoning [Leibniz]
16709 Some people return to scholastic mysterious qualities, disguising them as 'forces' [Leibniz]
13192 Power is passive force, which is mass, and active force, which is entelechy or form [Leibniz]
13193 Active force is not just potential for action, since it involves a real effort or striving [Leibniz]
13194 God's laws would be meaningless without internal powers for following them [Leibniz]
13195 To explain a house we must describe its use, as well as its parts [Leibniz]
13196 All qualities of bodies reduce to forces [Leibniz]
12742 A whole is just its parts, but there are no smallest parts, so only minds and perceptions exist [Leibniz]
12693 A body is that which exists in space [Leibniz]
12700 Form or soul gives unity and duration; matter gives multiplicity and change [Leibniz]
12699 A body would be endless disunited parts, if it did not have a unifying form or soul [Leibniz]
12736 If we understand God and his choices, we have a priori knowledge of contingent truths [Leibniz, by Garber]
12698 Every body contains a kind of sense and appetite, or a soul [Leibniz]
12734 Every necessary proposition is demonstrable to someone who understands [Leibniz]
12733 Because of the definitions of cause, effect and power, cause and effect have the same power [Leibniz]
12743 A true being must (unlike a chain) have united parts, with a substantial form as its subject [Leibniz]
12714 The substantial form is the principle of action or the primitive force of acting [Leibniz]
12710 As well as extension, bodies contain powers [Leibniz]
12702 Causes can be inferred from perfect knowledge of their effects [Leibniz]
12712 Substance is that which can act [Leibniz]
12737 Nature can be fully explained by final causes alone, or by efficient causes alone [Leibniz]
19389 Truth is a characteristic of possible thoughts [Leibniz]
19388 True and false seem to pertain to thoughts, yet unthought propositions seem to be true or false [Leibniz]
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]
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]
13088 Subjects include predicates, so full understanding of subjects reveals all the predicates [Leibniz]
16761 Forms are of no value in physics, but are indispensable in metaphysics [Leibniz]
19342 Reason avoids multiplying hypotheses or principles [Leibniz]
5035 The two basics of reasoning are contradiction and sufficient reason [Leibniz]
5037 God doesn't decide that Adam will sin, but that sinful Adam's existence is to be preferred [Leibniz]
5038 Assume that mind and body follow their own laws, but God has harmonised them [Leibniz]
12741 If experience is just a dream, it is still real enough if critical reason is never deceived [Leibniz]
12740 The strongest criterion that phenomena show reality is success in prediction [Leibniz]
12721 Light, heat and colour are apparent qualities, and so are motion, figure and extension [Leibniz]
19387 Hypotheses come from induction, which is comparison of experiences [Leibniz]
19400 Possibles demand existence, so as many of them as possible must actually exist [Leibniz]
19401 God's sufficient reason for choosing reality is in the fitness or perfection of possibilities [Leibniz]
19402 The actual universe is the richest composite of what is possible [Leibniz]
5039 If non-existents are possible, their existence would replace what now exists, which cannot therefore be necessary [Leibniz]
5040 Necessary truths can be analysed into original truths; contingent truths are infinitely analysable [Leibniz]
5041 God does everything in a perfect way, and never acts contrary to reason [Leibniz]
13159 Only God sees contingent truths a priori [Leibniz]
13162 Sloth's Syllogism: either it can't happen, or it is inevitable without my effort [Leibniz]
19339 Evil is a negation of good, which arises from non-being [Leibniz]
13163 Circles must be bounded, so cannot be infinite [Leibniz]
13164 God only made sin possible because a much greater good can be derived from it [Leibniz]
13083 The essence is the necessary properties, and the concept includes what is contingent [Leibniz]
19398 Minds are best explained by their ends, and bodies by efficient causes [Leibniz]
19376 A machine is best defined by its final cause, which explains the roles of the parts [Leibniz]
19405 Substances are in harmony, because they each express the one reality in themselves [Leibniz]
2116 The concept of an existing thing must contain more than the concept of a non-existing thing [Leibniz]
13082 The complete concept of an individual includes contingent properties, as well as necessary ones [Leibniz]
19399 Prime matter is nothing when it is at rest [Leibniz]
22908 When one element contains the grounds of the other, the first one is prior in time [Leibniz]
7931 If a substance is just a thing that has properties, it seems to be a characterless non-entity [Leibniz, by Macdonald,C]
7644 The monad idea incomprehensibly spiritualises matter, instead of materialising soul [La Mettrie on Leibniz]
11857 He replaced Aristotelian continuants with monads [Leibniz, by Wiggins]
7843 Is a drop of urine really an infinity of thinking monads? [Voltaire on Leibniz]
12751 It is unclear in 'Monadology' how extended bodies relate to mind-like monads. [Garber on Leibniz]
12707 The true elements are atomic monads [Leibniz]
17554 There must be some internal difference between any two beings in nature [Leibniz]
19363 Changes in a monad come from an internal principle, and the diversity within its substance [Leibniz]
2109 Increase a conscious machine to the size of a mill - you still won't see perceptions in it [Leibniz]
19352 A 'monad' has basic perception and appetite; a 'soul' has distinct perception and memory [Leibniz]
2110 We all expect the sun to rise tomorrow by experience, but astronomers expect it by reason [Leibniz]
19362 We know the 'I' and its contents by abstraction from awareness of necessary truths [Leibniz]
2111 Falsehood involves a contradiction, and truth is contradictory of falsehood [Leibniz]
4642 No fact can be real and no proposition true unless there is a Sufficient Reason (even if we can't know it) [Leibniz]
2112 Truths of reason are known by analysis, and are necessary; facts are contingent, and their opposites possible [Leibniz]
9344 Mathematical analysis ends in primitive principles, which cannot be and need not be demonstrated [Leibniz]
2113 God alone (the Necessary Being) has the privilege that He must exist if He is possible [Leibniz]
2114 This is the most perfect possible universe, in its combination of variety with order [Leibniz]
2115 Everything in the universe is interconnected, so potentially a mind could know everything [Leibniz]
2595 If the universe is a perfect agreement of uncommunicating substances, there must be a common source [Leibniz]
2596 Maybe mind and body are parallel, like two good clocks [Leibniz]
5063 Music charms, although its beauty is the harmony of numbers [Leibniz]
19353 'Perception' is basic internal representation, and 'apperception' is reflective knowledge of perception [Leibniz]
5061 Animals are semi-rational because they connect facts, but they don't see causes [Leibniz]
5062 First: there must be reasons; Second: why anything at all?; Third: why this? [Leibniz]
19377 A monad and its body are living, so life is everywhere, and comes in infinite degrees [Leibniz]
12755 Final causes can help with explanations in physics [Leibniz]
11854 If there is some trace of God in things, that would explain their natural force [Leibniz]
12756 Substance is a force for acting and being acted upon [Leibniz]
12758 It is plausible to think substances contain the same immanent force seen in our free will [Leibniz]
12759 There are atoms of substance, but no atoms of bulk or extension [Leibniz]
12718 Secondary matter is active and complete; primary matter is passive and incomplete [Leibniz]
12760 Something rather like souls (though not intelligent) could be found everywhere [Leibniz]
19408 To say that nature or the one universal substance is God is a pernicious doctrine [Leibniz]
5058 Animals have thought and sensation, and indestructible immaterial souls [Leibniz]
5054 Animal thought is a shadow of reasoning, connecting sequences of images by imagination [Leibniz]
5057 If you fully understand a subject and its qualities, you see how the second derive from the first [Leibniz]
5055 No two things are totally identical [Leibniz]
5053 The instances confirming a general truth are never enough to establish its necessity [Leibniz]
5056 Material or immaterial substances cannot be conceived without their essential activity [Leibniz]
11855 Substances cannot be bare, but have activity as their essence [Leibniz]
11856 Qualities should be predictable from the nature of the subject [Leibniz]
12931 Particular truths are just instances of general truths [Leibniz]
12933 Arithmetic and geometry are implicitly innate, awaiting revelation [Leibniz]
12929 All of our thoughts come from within the soul, and not from the senses [Leibniz]
4302 You may experience a universal truth, but only reason can tell you that it is always true [Leibniz]
12930 The senses are confused, and necessities come from distinct intellectual ideas [Leibniz]
17079 Proofs of necessity come from the understanding, where they have their source [Leibniz]
12932 The idea of being must come from our own existence [Leibniz]
19360 General principles, even if unconscious, are indispensable for thinking [Leibniz]
12937 We shouldn't just accept Euclid's axioms, but try to demonstrate them [Leibniz]
12935 Every feeling is the perception of a truth [Leibniz]
12934 We can't want everyone to have more than their share, so a further standard is needed [Leibniz]
12936 There are natural rewards and punishments, like illness after over-indulgence [Leibniz]
12944 It is a serious mistake to think that we are aware of all of our perceptions [Leibniz]
12942 Memory doesn't make identity; a man who relearned everything would still be the same man [Leibniz]
12938 An idea is an independent inner object, which expresses the qualities of things [Leibniz]
12945 Thoughts correspond to sensations, but ideas are independent of thoughts [Leibniz]
12941 There cannot be power without action; the power is a disposition to act [Leibniz]
12939 Wholly uniform things like space and numbers are mere abstractions [Leibniz]
12940 What is left of the 'blank page' if you remove the ideas? [Leibniz]
12943 Individuality is in the bond substance gives between past and future [Leibniz]
12946 The idea of the will includes the understanding [Leibniz]
19357 The idea of green seems simple, but it must be compounded of the ideas of blue and yellow [Leibniz]
12947 We only believe in sensible things when reason helps the senses [Leibniz]
19358 Colour and pain must express the nature of their stimuli, without exact resemblance [Leibniz]
12948 A pain doesn't resemble the movement of a pin, but it resembles the bodily movement pins cause [Leibniz]
12950 We must distinguish images from exact defined ideas [Leibniz]
12949 Light takes time to reach us, so objects we see may now not exist [Leibniz]
12951 Abstraction attends to the general, not the particular, and involves universal truths [Leibniz]
12952 Space is an order among actual and possible things [Leibniz]
12953 Fluidity is basic, and we divide into bodies according to our needs [Leibniz]
12955 If there were duration without change, we could never establish its length [Leibniz]
12954 God's essence is the source of possibilities, and his will the source of existents [Leibniz]
12956 Only whole numbers are multitudes of units [Leibniz]
12958 Love is pleasure in the perfection, well-being or happiness of its object [Leibniz]
12957 The good is the virtuous, the pleasing, or the useful [Leibniz]
12964 If would be absurd not to disagree with someone's taste if it was a taste for poisons [Leibniz]
12962 Pleasure is a sense of perfection [Leibniz]
19364 Volition automatically endeavours to move towards what it sees as good (and away from bad) [Leibniz]
19368 The will determines action, by what is seen as good, but it does not necessitate it [Leibniz]
12963 Opposing reason is opposing truth, since reason is a chain of truths [Leibniz]
12959 We discern active power from our minds, so mind must be involved in all active powers [Leibniz]
12965 All occurrence in the depth of a substance is spontaneous 'action' [Leibniz]
12960 We understand things when they are distinct, and we can derive necessities from them [Leibniz]
19328 Without the principle of sufficient reason, God's existence could not be demonstrated [Leibniz]
12967 I use the word 'entelechy' for a power, to include endeavour, as well as mere aptitude [Leibniz]
12966 Objects of ideas can be divided into abstract and concrete, and then further subdivided [Leibniz]
12969 The active powers which are not essential to the substance are the 'real qualities' [Leibniz]
12968 A 'substratum' is just a metaphor for whatever supports several predicates [Leibniz]
12972 Bodies, like Theseus's ship, are only the same in appearance, and never strictly the same [Leibniz]
12971 If two individuals could be indistinguishable, there could be no principle of individuation [Leibniz]
13098 We use things to distinguish places and times, not vice versa [Leibniz]
13075 No two things are quite the same, so there must be an internal principle of distinction [Leibniz]
12970 We can imagine two bodies interpenetrating, as two rays of light seem to [Leibniz]
12973 We know our own identity by psychological continuity, even if there are some gaps [Leibniz]
12884 The same whole ceases to exist if a part is lost [Leibniz]
12974 People who can't apply names usually don't understand the thing to which it applies [Leibniz]
12976 If our ideas of a thing are imperfect, the thing can have several unconnected definitions [Leibniz]
12975 We have a distinct idea of gold, to define it, but not a perfect idea, to understand it [Leibniz]
12978 A perfect idea of an object shows that the object is possible [Leibniz]
12977 We will only connect our various definitions of gold when we understand it more deeply [Leibniz]
12981 Essence is just the possibility of a thing [Leibniz]
12979 The only way we can determine individuals is by keeping hold of them [Leibniz]
12984 Real definitions, unlike nominal definitions, display possibilities [Leibniz]
12983 A nominal definition is of the qualities, but the real definition is of the essential inner structure [Leibniz]
12982 One essence can be expressed by several definitions [Leibniz]
12980 Genus and differentia might be swapped, and 'rational animal' become 'animable rational' [Leibniz]
12985 Maybe motion is definable as 'change of place' [Leibniz]
12986 The essence of baldness is vague and imperfect [Leibniz]
12988 The universe contains everything possible for its perfect harmony [Leibniz]
12987 For some sorts, a member of it is necessarily a member [Leibniz]
12989 Our true divisions of nature match reality, but are probably incomplete [Leibniz]
12990 Real (non-logical) abstract terms are either essences or accidents [Leibniz]
12991 Children learn language fast, with little instruction and few definitions [Leibniz]
12993 Have five categories - substance, quantity, quality, action/passion, relation - and their combinations [Leibniz]
12992 Logic teaches us how to order and connect our thoughts [Leibniz]
12994 Gold has a real essence, unknown to us, which produces its properties [Leibniz]
12995 The name 'gold' means what we know of gold, and also further facts about it which only others know [Leibniz]
12811 We can't know individuals, or determine their exact individuality [Leibniz]
12998 Understanding grasps the agreements and disagreements of ideas [Leibniz]
12996 I know more than I think, since I know I think A then B then C [Leibniz]
12997 Analysis is the art of finding the middle term [Leibniz]
12999 Substances are primary powers; their ways of being are the derivative powers [Leibniz]
13000 Truth is correspondence between mental propositions and what they are about [Leibniz]
13002 It is always good to reduce the number of axioms [Leibniz]
13001 Our sensation of green is a confused idea, like objects blurred by movement [Leibniz]
13003 The Cogito doesn't prove existence, because 'I am thinking' already includes 'I am' [Leibniz]
13006 Certainty is where practical doubt is insane, or at least blameworthy [Leibniz]
13005 Truth arises among sensations from grounding reasons and from regularities [Leibniz]
10056 At bottom eternal truths are all conditional [Leibniz]
13008 Geometry, unlike sensation, lets us glimpse eternal truths and their necessity [Leibniz]
13009 A reason is a known truth which leads to assent to some further truth [Leibniz]
12805 If two people apply a single term to different resemblances, they refer to two different things [Leibniz]
12806 Locke needs many instances to show a natural kind, but why not a single instance? [Leibniz, by Jolley]
12808 Part of our idea of gold is its real essence, which is not known to us in detail [Leibniz]
12807 The word 'gold' means a hidden constitution known to experts, and not just its appearances [Leibniz]
1414 A perfection is a simple quality, which is positive and absolute, and has no limit [Leibniz]
21252 Perfections must have overlapping parts if their incompatibility is to be proved [Leibniz]
21253 Descartes needs to demonstrate how other people can attain his clear and distinct conceptions [Leibniz]
5043 To regard animals as mere machines may be possible, but seems improbable [Leibniz]
5044 Reality must be made of basic unities, which will be animated, substantial points [Leibniz]
5045 No machine or mere organised matter could have a unified self [Leibniz]
13167 We need the metaphysical notion of force to explain mechanics, and not just extended mass [Leibniz]
13169 I call Aristotle's entelechies 'primitive forces', which originate activity [Leibniz]
13168 My formal unifying atoms are substantial forms, which are forces like appetites [Leibniz]
13170 The analysis of things leads to atoms of substance, which found both composition and action [Leibniz]
13171 Substance must necessarily involve progress and change [Leibniz]
5046 The soul does know bodies, although they do not influence one another [Leibniz]
12694 Essence is the distinct thinkability of anything [Leibniz]
5020 Our thoughts are either dependent, or self-evident. All thoughts seem to end in the self-evident [Leibniz]
5019 Supreme human happiness is the greatest possible increase of his perfection [Leibniz]
5021 An idea is analysed perfectly when it is shown a priori that it is possible [Leibniz]
19350 We should say that body is mechanism and soul is immaterial, asserting their independence [Leibniz]
19355 The soul doesn't understand many of its own actions, if perceptions are confused and desires buried [Leibniz]
19356 Minds unconsciously count vibration beats in music, and enjoy it when they coincide [Leibniz]
13161 Substances are everywhere in matter, like points in a line [Leibniz]
13160 To exist and be understood, a multitude must first be reduced to a unity [Leibniz]
5042 For every event it is possible for an omniscient being to give a reason for its occurrence [Leibniz]
19424 Knowledge needs clarity, distinctness, and adequacy, and it should be intuitive [Leibniz]
19425 In the schools the Four Causes are just lumped together in a very obscure way [Leibniz]
19426 'Nominal' definitions just list distinguishing characteristics [Leibniz]
19427 True ideas represent what is possible; false ideas represent contradictions [Leibniz]
12709 Motion is not absolute, but consists in relation [Leibniz]
12739 If we are dreaming, it is sufficient that the events are coherent, and obey laws [Leibniz]
12738 Successful prediction shows proficiency in nature [Leibniz]
19404 Necessities rest on contradiction, and contingencies on sufficient reason [Leibniz]
19403 Each of the infinite possible worlds has its own laws, and the individuals contain those laws [Leibniz]
19396 Wisdom is knowing all of the sciences, and their application [Leibniz]
19397 Perfect knowledge implies complete explanations and perfect prediction [Leibniz]
7696 Leibniz first asked 'why is there something rather than nothing?' [Leibniz, by Jacquette]
5047 The world is physically necessary, as its contrary would imply imperfection or moral absurdity [Leibniz]
19341 There must be a straining towards existence in the essence of all possible things [Leibniz]
19343 We follow the practical rule which always seeks maximum effect for minimum cost [Leibniz]
19336 Wisdom involves the desire to achieve perfection [Leibniz]
19428 Because something does exist, there must be a drive in possible things towards existence [Leibniz]
19429 The principle of determination in things obtains the greatest effect with the least effort [Leibniz]
12697 Indivisibles are not parts, but the extrema of parts [Leibniz]
12727 It's impossible, but imagine a body carrying on normally, but with no mind [Leibniz]
9155 An a priori proof is independent of experience [Leibniz]
12716 The concept of forces or powers best reveals the true concept of substance [Leibniz]
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]
5059 Power rules in efficient causes, but wisdom rules in connecting them to final causes [Leibniz]
5060 All substances analyse down to simple substances, which are souls, or 'monads' [Leibniz]
19394 Inequality can be brought infinitely close to equality [Leibniz]
19395 Philosophy is sanctified, because it flows from God [Leibniz]
19382 Abstracta are abbreviated ways of talking; there are just substances, and truths about them [Leibniz]
13157 Choose the true hypothesis, which is the most intelligible one [Leibniz]
13158 The Copernican theory is right because it is the only one offering a good explanation [Leibniz]
19384 Space and time are the order of all possibilities, and don't just relate to what is actual [Leibniz]
19406 I strongly believe in the actual infinite, which indicates the perfections of its author [Leibniz]
5048 Perfection is simply quantity of reality [Leibniz]
5049 Intelligent pleasure is the perception of beauty, order and perfection [Leibniz]
5050 Evil serves a greater good, and pain is necessary for higher pleasure [Leibniz]
13099 Analysing right down to primitive concepts seems beyond our powers [Leibniz]
5022 We hold a proposition true if we are ready to follow it, and can't see any objections [Leibniz]
12729 The cause of a change is not the real influence, but whatever gives a reason for the change [Leibniz]
19437 Prayers are useful, because God foresaw them in his great plan [Leibniz]
19337 How can an all-good, wise and powerful being allow evil, sin and apparent injustice? [Leibniz]
19345 Being confident of God's goodness, we disregard the apparent local evils in the visible world [Leibniz]
19325 God is the first reason of things; our experiences are contingent, and contain no necessity [Leibniz]
19326 God must be intelligible, to select the actual world from the possibilities [Leibniz]
19327 The intelligent cause must be unique and all-perfect, to handle all the interconnected possibilities [Leibniz]
19346 Most people facing death would happily re-live a similar life, with just a bit of variety [Leibniz]
19331 Will is an inclination to pursue something good [Leibniz]
19340 Metaphysical evil is imperfection; physical evil is suffering; moral evil is sin [Leibniz]
19367 Saying we must will whatever we decide to will leads to an infinite regress [Leibniz]
19351 Perfections of soul subordinate the body, but imperfections of soul submit to the body [Leibniz]
19344 God prefers men to lions, but might not exterminate lions to save one man [Leibniz]
19335 Reasonings have a natural ordering in God's understanding, but only a temporal order in ours [Leibniz]
19330 If justice is arbitrary, or fixed but not observed, or not human justice, this undermines God [Leibniz]
19329 The laws of physics are wonderful evidence of an intelligent and free being [Leibniz]
19366 You can't assess moral actions without referring to the qualities of character that produce them [Leibniz]
15955 I think the corpuscular theory, rather than forms or qualities, best explains particular phenomena [Leibniz]
12903 Wise people have fewer acts of will, because such acts are linked together [Leibniz]
5030 Miracles are extraordinary operations by God, but are nevertheless part of his design [Leibniz]
5031 Everything which happens is not necessary, but is certain after God chooses this universe [Leibniz]
12904 If varieties of myself can be conceived of as distinct from me, then they are not me [Leibniz]
12905 I cannot think my non-existence, nor exist without being myself [Leibniz]
13089 To fully conceive the subject is to explain the resulting predicates and events [Leibniz]
12906 Truths about species are eternal or necessary, but individual truths concern what exists [Leibniz]
13077 Basic predicates give the complete concept, which then predicts all of the actions [Leibniz]
12907 Each possible world contains its own laws, reflected in the possible individuals of that world [Leibniz]
11981 If someone's life went differently, then that would be another individual [Leibniz]
19334 I can't just know myself to be a substance; I must distinguish myself from others, which is hard [Leibniz]
19333 A truth is just a proposition in which the predicate is contained within the subject [Leibniz]
12909 Everything, even miracles, belongs to order [Leibniz]
12910 The predicate is in the subject of a true proposition [Leibniz]
12913 Nature is explained by mathematics and mechanism, but the laws rest on metaphysics [Leibniz]
12908 Essences exist in the divine understanding [Leibniz]
12911 Concepts are what unite a proposition [Leibniz]
12912 Immortality without memory is useless [Leibniz]
12914 Metaphysics is geometrical, resting on non-contradiction and sufficient reason [Leibniz]
12915 Definitions can only be real if the item is possible [Leibniz]
12918 Animals have souls, but lack consciousness [Leibniz]
12917 The soul is indestructible and always self-aware [Leibniz]
12916 A body is a unified aggregate, unless it has an indivisible substance [Leibniz]
12919 Unity needs an indestructible substance, to contain everything which will happen to it [Leibniz]
5032 It seems probable that animals have souls, but not consciousness [Leibniz]
12704 Aggregates don’t reduce to points, or atoms, or illusion, so must reduce to substance [Leibniz]
12745 Philosophy needs the precision of the unity given by substances [Leibniz]
12921 Accidental unity has degrees, from a mob to a society to a machine or organism [Leibniz]
12746 We find unity in reason, and unity in perception, but these are not true unity [Leibniz]
5033 Nothing should be taken as certain without foundations [Leibniz]
12920 There is no multiplicity without true units [Leibniz]
12319 What is not truly one being is not truly a being either [Leibniz]
12922 A thing 'expresses' another if they have a constant and fixed relationship [Leibniz]
12923 Every bodily substance must have a soul, or something analogous to a soul [Leibniz]
5034 Mind is a thinking substance which can know God and eternal truths [Leibniz]
12924 Motion alone is relative, but force is real, and establishes its subject [Leibniz]
12925 Beauty increases with familiarity [Leibniz]
13079 A substance contains the laws of its operations, and its actions come from its own depth [Leibniz]
12926 Wisdom is the science of happiness [Leibniz]
12927 Happiness is advancement towards perfection [Leibniz]
12706 Bodies need a soul (or something like it) to avoid being mere phenomena [Leibniz]
19413 If we know what is good or rational, our knowledge is extended, and our free will restricted [Leibniz]
13173 Death is just the contraction of an animal [Leibniz]
13172 What we cannot imagine may still exist [Leibniz]
13174 A piece of flint contains something resembling perceptions and appetites [Leibniz]
13175 Entelechies are analogous to souls, as other minds are analogous to our own minds [Leibniz]
19407 We want good education and sociability, rather than lots of moral precepts [Leibniz]
13198 Gravity is within matter because of its structure, and it can be explained. [Leibniz]
13197 The notion of substance is one of the keys to true philosophy [Leibniz]
13189 A necessary feature (such as air for humans) is not therefore part of the essence [Leibniz]
19432 Intelligible truth is independent of any external things or experiences [Leibniz]
19431 There is nothing in the understanding but experiences, plus the understanding itself, and the understander [Leibniz]
19430 We know objects by perceptions, but their qualities don't reveal what it is we are perceiving [Leibniz]
23026 We know mathematical axioms, such as subtracting equals from equals leaves equals, by a natural light [Leibniz]
22894 If time were absolute that would make God's existence dependent on it [Leibniz, by Bardon]
2098 The principle of sufficient reason is needed if we are to proceed from maths to physics [Leibniz]
2099 The existence of God, and all metaphysics, follows from the Principle of Sufficient Reason [Leibniz]
3646 There is always a reason why things are thus rather than otherwise [Leibniz]
2100 Space and time are purely relative [Leibniz]
2101 If everything in the universe happened a year earlier, there would be no discernible difference [Leibniz]
2102 Atomism is irrational because it suggests that two atoms can be indistinguishable [Leibniz]
2103 The idea that the universe could be moved forward with no other change is just a fantasy [Leibniz]
2104 No reason could limit the quantity of matter, so there is no limit [Leibniz]
2105 Things are infinitely subdivisible and contain new worlds, which atoms would make impossible [Leibniz]
2106 The only simple things are monads, with no parts or extension [Leibniz]
2107 No time exists except instants, and instants are not even a part of time, so time does not exist [Leibniz]
20965 Leibniz upheld conservations of momentum and energy [Leibniz, by Papineau]
21346 The ratio between two lines can't be a feature of one, and cannot be in both [Leibniz]
19385 All simply substances are in harmony, because they all represent the one universe [Leibniz]
19433 The universe is infinitely varied, so the Buridan's Ass dilemma could never happen [Leibniz]
19434 There may be a world where dogs smell their game at a thousand leagues [Leibniz]
13096 The force behind motion is like a soul, with its own laws of continual change [Leibniz]
13177 An entelechy is a law of the series of its event within some entity [Leibniz]
19409 Soul represents body, but soul remains unchanged, while body continuously changes [Leibniz]
19410 Scientific truths are supported by mutual agreement, as well as agreement with the phenomena [Leibniz]
11873 Our notions may be formed from concepts, but concepts are formed from things [Leibniz]
13180 Space is the order of coexisting possibles [Leibniz]
13181 Time is the order of inconsistent possibilities [Leibniz]
13178 Things in different locations are different because they 'express' those locations [Leibniz]
19412 If two bodies only seem to differ in their position, those different environments will matter [Leibniz]
19411 In nature there aren't even two identical straight lines, so no two bodies are alike [Leibniz]
12747 Monads are not extended, but have a kind of situation in extension [Leibniz]
13179 A complete monad is a substance with primitive active and passive power [Leibniz]
13093 The only permanence in things, constituting their substance, is a law of continuity [Leibniz]
19379 The law of the series, which determines future states of a substance, is what individuates it [Leibniz]
13184 The division of nature into matter makes distinct appearances, and that presupposes substances [Leibniz]
13186 Universals are just abstractions by concealing some of the circumstances [Leibniz]
13183 Primitive forces are internal strivings of substances, acting according to their internal laws [Leibniz]
13185 Even if extension is impenetrable, this still offers no explanation for motion and its laws [Leibniz]
12748 Only monads are substances, and bodies are collections of them [Leibniz]
12752 Only unities have any reality [Leibniz]
13182 Changeable accidents are modifications of unchanging essences [Leibniz]
12749 Derivate forces are in phenomena, but primitive forces are in the internal strivings of substances [Leibniz]
13187 In actual things nothing is indefinite [Leibniz]
13188 The only indications of reality are agreement among phenomena, and their agreement with necessities [Leibniz]
12722 Thought terminates in force, rather than extension [Leibniz]
19383 A man's distant wife dying is a real change in him [Leibniz]
12774 Without a substantial chain to link monads, they would just be coordinated dreams [Leibniz]
12775 Things seem to be unified if we see duration, position, interaction and connection [Leibniz]
12776 Every substance is alive [Leibniz]
12777 Monads do not make a unity unless a substantial chain is added to them [Leibniz]
12753 A substantial bond of powers is needed to unite composites, in addition to monads [Leibniz]
12784 Allow no more miracles than are necessary [Leibniz]
12781 A composite substance is a mere aggregate if its essence is just its parts [Leibniz]
12779 There is a reason why not every possible thing exists [Leibniz]
12782 Monads control nothing outside of themselves [Leibniz]
12785 Truth is mutually agreed perception [Leibniz]
12778 There is active and passive power in the substantial chain and in the essence of a composite [Leibniz]
12783 Primitive force is what gives a composite its reality [Leibniz]
12780 We can grasp the wisdom of God a priori [Leibniz]
12708 The soul is not a substance but a substantial form, the first active faculty [Leibniz]
2117 The connection in events enables us to successfully predict the future, so there must be a constant cause [Leibniz]
13095 Essence is primitive force, or a law of change [Leibniz]
13097 Force in substance makes state follow state, and ensures the very existence of substance [Leibniz]
12723 The most primitive thing in substances is force, which leads to their actions and dispositions [Leibniz]
13190 I don't admit infinite numbers, and consider infinitesimals to be useful fictions [Leibniz]
12719 Clearly, force is that from which action follows, when unimpeded [Leibniz]
12720 Time doesn't exist, since its parts don't coexist [Leibniz]
19415 Passions reside in confused perceptions [Leibniz]
19438 Our large perceptions and appetites are made up tiny unconscious fragments [Leibniz]
19439 God produces possibilities, and thus ideas [Leibniz]
12732 Some necessary truths are brute, and others derive from final causes [Leibniz]
19348 All that is real in motion is the force or power which produces change [Leibniz]
11945 In addition to laws, God must also create appropriate natures for things [Leibniz]
13432 The essence of a circle is the equality of its radii [Leibniz]
12696 Bodies are recreated in motion, and don't exist in intervening instants [Leibniz]
19414 Men are related to animals, which are related to plants, then to fossils, and then to the apparently inert [Leibniz]
19436 Bare or primary matter is passive; it is clothed or secondary matter which contains action [Leibniz]
13191 The properties of a thing flow from its essence [Leibniz]
19370 'Blind thought' is reasoning without recognition of the ingredients of the reasoning [Leibniz, by Arthur,R]
19390 Everything is subsumed under number, which is a metaphysical statics of the universe, revealing powers [Leibniz]
19391 We can assign a characteristic number to every single object [Leibniz]
19393 What is not active is nothing [Leibniz]
2118 All other human gifts can harm us, but not correct reasoning [Leibniz]
19423 By an 'idea' I mean not an actual thought, but the resources we can draw on to think [Leibniz]
7859 Leibniz had an unusual commitment to the causal completeness of physics [Leibniz, by Papineau]
7842 Leibniz was closer than Spinoza to atheism [Leibniz, by Stewart,M]
19372 Concepts are ordered, and show eternal possibilities, deriving from God [Leibniz, by Arthur,R]
7564 Occasionalism give a false view of natural laws, miracles, and substances [Leibniz, by Jolley]
5510 Leibniz has a panpsychist view that physical points are spiritual [Leibniz, by Martin/Barresi]
13467 Leibniz was the first modern to focus on sentence-sized units (where empiricists preferred word-size) [Leibniz, by Hart,WD]
19365 Limited awareness leads to bad choices, and unconscious awareness makes us choose the bad [Leibniz, by Perkins]
7569 Humans are moral, and capable of reward and punishment, because of memory and self-consciousness [Leibniz, by Jolley]
19354 Leibniz introduced the idea of degrees of consciousness, essential for his monads [Leibniz, by Perkins]
7841 We think we are free because the causes of the will are unknown; determinism is a false problem [Leibniz]
16683 Leibniz eventually said resistance, rather than extension, was the essence of body [Leibniz, by Pasnau]
7560 Leibniz struggled to reconcile bodies with a reality of purely soul-like entities [Jolley on Leibniz]
3889 God's existence is either necessary or impossible [Leibniz, by Scruton]
12728 Leibniz rejected atoms, because they must be elastic, and hence have parts [Leibniz, by Garber]
7574 Natural law theory is found in Aquinas, in Leibniz, and at the Nuremberg trials [Leibniz, by Jolley]
12725 Leibniz wanted to explain motion and its laws by the nature of body [Leibniz, by Garber]
13086 Metaphysics is a science of the intelligible nature of being [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
19359 Leibniz aims to give coherent rational support for empiricism [Leibniz, by Perkins]
16710 Leibniz tried to combine mechanistic physics with scholastic metaphysics [Leibniz, by Pasnau]
16897 Reason is the faculty for grasping apriori necessary truths [Leibniz, by Burge]
3346 For Leibniz rationality is based on non-contradiction and the principle of sufficient reason [Leibniz, by Benardete,JA]
3347 Leibniz said the principle of sufficient reason is synthetic a priori, since its denial is not illogical [Leibniz, by Benardete,JA]
9147 Number cannot be defined as addition of ones, since that needs the number; it is a single act of abstraction [Fine,K on Leibniz]
18081 Nature uses the infinite everywhere [Leibniz]
18080 A tangent is a line connecting two points on a curve that are infinitely close together [Leibniz]
7561 Substances are essentially active [Leibniz, by Jolley]
8627 Leibniz is inclined to regard all truths as provable [Leibniz, by Frege]
7565 Leibniz proposes monads, since there must be basic things, which are immaterial in order to have unity [Leibniz, by Jolley]
10419 If relations can be reduced to, or supervene on, monadic properties of relata, they are not real [Leibniz, by Swoyer]
12713 Forms have sensation and appetite, the latter being the ability to act on other bodies [Leibniz, by Garber]
13087 The essence of a thing is its real possibilities [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
12701 Leibniz moved from individuation by whole entity to individuation by substantial form [Leibniz, by Garber]
11878 Leibniz's view (that all properties are essential) is extreme essentialism, not its denial [Leibniz, by Mackie,P]
11862 Leibniz was not an essentialist [Leibniz, by Wiggins]
16504 Two eggs can't be identical, because the same truths can't apply to both of them [Leibniz]
12715 Leibniz strengthened hylomorphism by connecting it to force in physics [Leibniz, by Garber]
13091 Leibnizian substances add concept, law, force, form and soul [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
13105 The laws-of-the-series plays a haecceitist role [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
12035 Leibniz bases pure primitive entities on conjunctions of qualitative properties [Leibniz, by Adams,RM]
15883 Leibniz narrows down God's options to one, by non-contradiction, sufficient reason, indiscernibles, compossibility [Leibniz, by Harré]
18822 Each monad expresses all its compatible monads; a possible world is the resulting equivalence class [Leibniz, by Rumfitt]
7837 Leibniz proposed possible worlds, because they might be evil, where God would not create evil things [Leibniz, by Stewart,M]
8650 Things are the same if one can be substituted for the other without loss of truth [Leibniz]
13828 Necessary truths are those provable from identities by pure logic in finite steps [Leibniz, by Hacking]
4307 A reason must be given why contingent beings should exist rather than not exist [Leibniz]
13080 Leibniz has a counterpart view of de re counterfactuals [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
19332 For Leibniz, divine understanding grasps every conceivable possibility [Leibniz, by Perkins]
8110 Leibniz identified beauty with intellectual perfection [Leibniz, by Gardner]
5509 Leibniz said dualism of mind and body is illusion, and there is only mind [Leibniz, by Martin/Barresi]
7568 Leibniz is an idealist insofar as the basic components of his universe are all mental [Leibniz, by Jolley]
15307 Leibniz uses 'force' to mean both activity and potential [Leibniz]
13092 The essence of substance is the law of its changes, as in the series of numbers [Leibniz]
19374 Microscopes and the continuum suggest that matter is endlessly divisible [Leibniz]
19375 The continuum is not divided like sand, but folded like paper [Leibniz, by Arthur,R]
16507 The law within something fixes its persistence, and accords with general laws of nature [Leibniz]
16513 Identity of a substance is the law of its persistence [Leibniz]
13078 Relations aren't in any monad, so they are distributed, so they are not real [Leibniz]
13084 How can things be incompatible, if all positive terms seem to be compatible? [Leibniz]