Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Parmenides', 'Principle of Life and Plastic Natures' and 'Issues of Pragmaticism'

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6 ideas

26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / d. The unlimited
225 The unlimited has no shape and is endless [Plato]
     Full Idea: The unlimited partakes neither of the round nor of the straight, because it has no ends nor edges.
     From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 137e)
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / e. The One
233 Some things do not partake of the One [Plato]
     Full Idea: The others cannot partake of the one in any way; they can neither partake of it nor of the whole.
     From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 159d)
     A reaction: Compare Idea 231
2062 The only movement possible for the One is in space or in alteration [Plato]
     Full Idea: If the One moves it either moves spatially or it is altered, since these are the only motions.
     From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 138b)
231 Everything partakes of the One in some way [Plato]
     Full Idea: The others are not altogether deprived of the one, for they partake of it in some way.
     From: Plato (Parmenides [c.364 BCE], 157c)
     A reaction: Compare Idea 233.
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 7. Later Matter Theories / a. Early Modern matter
19416 Not all of matter is animated, any more than a pond full of living fish is animated [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: It must not be said that each portion of matter is animated, just as we do not say that a pond full of fishes is an animated body, although a fish is.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Principle of Life and Plastic Natures [1705], p.190)
     A reaction: This is a particularly clear picture of the role of monads in matter. Monads are attached to bodies, which are entirely inanimate, but monads suffuse matter and give it its properties, like particularly bubbly champagne. Cf Idea 19422.
19422 Every particle of matter contains organic bodies [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: There is no particle of matter which does not contain organic bodies.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Principle of Life and Plastic Natures [1705], p.198)
     A reaction: Cf Idea 19416. There seems to be an interaction problem here (solved, presumably, by pre-established harmony). The organic bodies are there to explain the active behaviour of matter, but the related matter seems intrinsically inert.