Single Idea 12748

[catalogued under 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / c. Monads]

Full Idea

A monad alone is a substance; a body is substances not a substance.

Gist of Idea

Only monads are substances, and bodies are collections of them

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Burcher De Volder [1706], 1704.01.21), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 8

Book Reference

Garber,Daniel: 'Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad' [OUP 2009], p.312


A Reaction

So how many monads in a drop of urine, as Voltaire bluntly wondered. I take the Cartesian dualism (without interaction) that ran through Leibniz's career to be the source of most of his metaphysical problems. In late career it went badly wrong.