The Monadology
La Monadologie
Leibniz’s summary of his metaphysics in ninety short sections, written in French at Vienna in 1714 and first published in German in 1720. The world is made of monads, simple substances without parts or windows, each mirroring the whole universe from its own point of view through perceptions and appetitions. Their agreement is a harmony pre-established by God, who chose the best of all possible worlds by the principles of contradiction and sufficient reason; souls and bodies follow their own laws, and minds form the City of God.
- Edition
- Robert Latta’s translation, from Leibniz: The Monadology and Other Philosophical Writings (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898), from the Wikisource transcription, checked word by word against archive.org scans of three copies of the 1898 printing. Leibniz’s own marginal references to the Théodicée are kept in the text, as Latta prints them; Latta’s prefatory note and footnotes are omitted.
- Source
- Wikisource
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Contents
- The Monadology 51 min 30
Leibniz compresses his metaphysics into ninety numbered sections. Compounds presuppose simple substances, monads: unextended, indestructible by natural means and “windowless”, changing only from an internal principle through perceptions and appetitions. Grades of perception separate bare monads, animal souls with memory, and rational minds that know necessary truths. Reasoning rests on the principles of contradiction and sufficient reason, which lead to a necessary God who chose the best of infinitely many possible worlds. Each monad mirrors the universe from its own point of view; soul and body agree by pre-established harmony, and minds together form the City of God, where nature and grace coincide.