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Relations (1)
cross_type 2.81 — strongly supporting 6 facts
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is related to the concept of matter because his philosophical system, particularly in his 'Monadology', redefines matter as a collection of monadic minds {fact:1, fact:2, fact:6}. He argues that matter is not fundamentally distinct from mind [1] and uses the mechanical properties of matter to explore the limits of consciousness {fact:4, fact:5}.
Facts (6)
Sources
Critique of Panpsychism: Philosophical Coherence and Scientific ... thequran.love 4 facts
referenceGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's 'Monadology' (1714) posits that every substance possesses perception, describing a world of living creatures existing even in the least part of matter.
claimGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz proposed that the difference between matter and mind is a difference in the degree of clarity of perception rather than an absolute difference in kind, suggesting an intrinsic, perceiving nature to all matter.
quoteGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz stated: “all things — even mere aggregates — possess mind, if only in their parts,” declaring “we see that there is a world of creatures, of living beings, of animals, of entelechies, of souls in the least part of matter”.
claimIn Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's view, while every portion of matter contains a hierarchy of monadic minds, only organized beings with a dominant monad, such as humans, animals, or plants, possess a unified consciousness.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's philosophical system downgrades the physical world to a consensual illusion, where matter, space, and time are constructs of mental phenomena.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimIn his 1720 work, Monadology, G.W. Leibniz used the analogy of a mill to argue that consciousness cannot arise from mere matter, asserting that an observer walking through the mechanical operations of an expanded brain would not see any conscious thoughts.