Single Idea 12916

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance]

Full Idea

One will never find a body of which it may be said that it is truly one substance, ...because entities made up by aggregation have only as much reality as exists in the constituent parts. Hence the substance of a body must be indivisible.

Gist of Idea

A body is a unified aggregate, unless it has an indivisible substance

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Antoine Arnauld [1686], 1686.11)

Book Reference

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'The Leibniz-Arnauld Correspondence', ed/tr. Mason,HT/Parkinson,GHR [Manchester UP 1967], p.88


A Reaction

Leibniz rejected atomism, and he evidently believed that pure materialists must deny the real existence of physical objects. Common sense suggests that causal bonds bestow a high degree of unity on bodies (if degrees are allowed).