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Single Idea 5058

[from 'New Essays on Human Understanding' by Gottfried Leibniz, in 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / c. Animal Souls ]

Full Idea

I hold (against the Cartesians) that brutes also have thought, and hold that they have sensation, and souls which are, properly speaking, immaterial, and as incapable of perishing as the atoms of Democritus or Gassendi.

Gist of Idea

Animals have thought and sensation, and indestructible immaterial souls

Source

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

Book Reference

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Parkinson,G.H.R. [Dent 1973], p.170


A Reaction

Insect heaven will be a bit crowded. I can never grasp why theologians would claim that souls are 'indestructible', when they are held to come into existence at a particular moment in space-time. Transmigration of souls is a much more rational belief.