Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Arnauld, and Monadology (1902)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~99,600 words · 473 passages
Cite this work
- APAGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. (n.d.). Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Arnauld, and Monadology (1902). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/leibniz/discourse-on-metaphysics-correspondence-with-arnauld-and-monadology-1902
- MLAGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. "Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Arnauld, and Monadology (1902)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/leibniz/discourse-on-metaphysics-correspondence-with-arnauld-and-monadology-1902.
- ChicagoGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Arnauld, and Monadology (1902). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/leibniz/discourse-on-metaphysics-correspondence-with-arnauld-and-monadology-1902.
What it is about
Three short pieces containing the whole of Leibniz's philosophy: the 'Discourse on Metaphysics', the correspondence with Arnauld that came out of it, and the 'Monadology'.
Context and history
The 'Discourse', of 1686, he wrote to summarise himself to himself, and sent to Arnauld to be argued with; the correspondence that followed is where Leibniz explains himself best, because someone intelligent kept finding the weak points. The 'Monadology', of 1714, is ninety numbered paragraphs setting out the entire system in a few pages: the world is made of monads, simple substances without windows which do not interact but are coordinated from the beginning by a pre-established harmony. This volume is the best way in: Leibniz never wrote a magnum opus, and his thought is scattered through letters, articles and drafts. This is enough to see its shape.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
METAPHYSICS: I. Concerning the divine perfection and that God does everything in the most desirable way. The conception of God which is the most common and the most full of meaning is expressed well enough in the words: God is an absolutely perfect being. The implications, however, of these words fail to receive sufficient consideration. For in- stance, there are many different kinds of perfection, all of which God possesses, and each one of them pertains to him in the highest degree. We must also know what perfection is. One thing which can surely be affirmed about it is that those forms or natures which are not susceptible of it to the highest degree, say the nature of numbers or of figures, do not permit of perfection. This is because the number which is the greatest of all (that is, the sum of all the numbers), and likewise the greatest of all figures, imply contradictions. The greatest knowledge, however, and omnipotence contain no impossibility. Consequently power and knowledge do admit of perfection, and in so far as they pertain to God they have no limits. Whence it follows that God who _ possesses supreme and infinite wisdom acts in the most per- fect manner not only metaphysically, but also from the moral standpoint. And with respect to our 4 LEIBNIZ. selves it can be said that the more we are enlightened and informed in regard to the works of God the more will we be disposed to find them excellent and conforming entirely to that which we might desire. II. Against those who hold that there is in the works of God no goodness, or that the principles of goodness and beauty are arbitrary.