Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Metaphysics', 'Letters to Samuel Clarke' and 'An Enquiry'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts


2 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 4. Ontological Dependence
Prior things can exist without posterior things, but not vice versa [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Prior things can have being without posterior things, without the posterior being able to have being without the prior, to adopt Plato's distinction.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1019a04)
     A reaction: Fine quotes this, in expounding Aristotle's account of essence.
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads
All simply substances are in harmony, because they all represent the one universe [Leibniz]
     Full Idea: All simple substances will always have a harmony among themselves, because they always represent the same universe.
     From: Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Samuel Clarke [1716], V §91), quoted by Richard T.W. Arthur - Leibniz
     A reaction: We can accept that the universe itself does not contain contradictions (how could it), but it is a leap of faith to say that all monads represent the universe well enough to avoid contradictions. Maps can contradict one another.