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Single Idea 13075

[filed under theme 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity ]

Full Idea

In addition to the difference of time or of place there must always be an internal principle of distinction: although there can be many things of the same kind, it is still the case that none of them are ever exactly alike.

Gist of Idea

No two things are quite the same, so there must be an internal principle of distinction

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 2.27)

Book Ref

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'New Essays on Human Understanding', ed/tr. Remnant/Bennett [CUP 1996], p.230

A Reaction

This rests on Leibniz's unusual view that all things (even electrons) are qualitatively distinct. Personally I disagree with that, but agree with the idea. Things have time and place because they have identity, not the other way around.

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]