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Monad (from Greek μονάς monas, "unit" from μόνος monos, "alone"), (Morris & Morris 1965) according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings,(Fancher & Rutherford 2012). Monad being the source or the One meaning without division. Monad was also a term used by the historic philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and other prominent members of the field to categorize and describe the concept of the soul such as Immanuel Kant, Pythagoras, and Giordano Bruno. The greatest contributor is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz with his theory termed Monadology. His philosophies inspired Immanuel Kant’s theories and literary works. There are three seperate types of monads that fall undera supreme monad. All these monads interact with each and have influence over one another.

A page from Leibniz's Monadology.

Description

Monadology is a theory developed by Leibniz presenting the idea “that the ultimate units of the world must be dynamic rather than static, containing within themselves energies and forces.” Monadology explains the idea that there are forces that drive the world. These forces are said to have an influence on our mental and spiritual qualities. These forces that drive the world and the qualities of people are known as monads. "And these monads are the true atoms of nature and, in a word, the elements of things" (Morris & Morris 1965). In Leibniz: Philisophical Writings a monad, "is nothing but a simple substance which enters into compounds"(Morris & Morris 1965). These monads are little units within our world and body (Fancher & Rutherford 2012). These monads are able to perceive things in the world.

Types of Monads

There are three types of monads in the world which are organized in a hierarchy. There is a supreme monad and two other types of monads underneath the supreme monad. The three types of monads are; rational monads, sentient monads and simple monads(Fancher & Rutherford 2012).

Supreme Monad

The supreme monad is considered to be God. Liebniz goes on to say that the reason for things has to lie in a necessary substance, "in which the differentiation of the changes only exists eminently as in their source; and this what we call God" (Morris & Morris 1965). All the other monads fall underneath the supreme monad.

Rational Monad

Rational Monads: are the highest on the hierarchy and are considered to be the ones closest to God. Unlike other monads, rational monads are said to have the ability of having a higher process of thinking known asapperception(Fancher & Rutherford 2012).

An example of rational monads would be the human species

Sentient Monad

Sentient Monads: these forces are said to inhait nonhuman animals. Leibniz made the argument that animals do indeed have conscious sensations however they do lack apperception making them second on the hierarchy (Rancher & Rutherford 2012).

An example of sentient monads would be the animal (non-human) race.

Simple Monad

Simple Monads: these “are forces that make up all inorganic and organic bodies of all matter” (Fancher & Rutherford 2012). These forces are unable to think consciously and do not have apperception. An example of simple monads would be plant matter.

The Hierarchy

The idea behind having these hierarchically arranged is to highlight the idea that these monads have control or are under the control of one another. As humans we have the control over animals and plant/non-plant matter. Animals have the ability to eat plant matter. All together; rational monads, sentient monads and simple monads are all under the control of God (the supreme monad) who created them all. All of these monads do not necessarily influence each other but they do follow courses that interact with each other which is known as preestablished harmony (Fancher & Rutherford 2012). In Morris's translation of Leibniz's Monadology shediscusses how everything is sensitive to everything going on in the world (Morris & Morris 1965). Interaction between monads is a genuine, non-standard form of influence (Puryear 2010). When Leibniz talks about the interaction between monads he is speaking of true interaction; a "real or physical interaction" (Puryear 2010).

Origin of the Term

According to Hippolytus, this view was inspired by the Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence the "monad." This belief, however, stems from the writings of Hippolytus exclusively, due to the fact that Pythagoras himself did very little writing of his own (Laertius 1925). The term monad wasn't used in the same context by the Pythagoreans as it was used by Leibniz and other philosophers. Pythagoras used the term in a more mathematical manner, stating that the generation of number series was related to objects of geometry as well as cosmogony (Sandywell 1996). According to Diogenes Laertius, from the monad evolved the dyad; from it numbers; from numbers, points; then lines, two-dimensional entities, three-dimensional entities, bodies, culminating in the four elements earth, water, fire and air, from which the rest of our world is built up (Laertius 1925)(Posy 1997).

The Pythagoreans

Pythagoras began a school of philosophy in Italy that was based on the combination of mythology from the past, and the science of his time. The principle that the Pythagoreans operated on was the idea that the human soul was a slave trapped inside our human form/bodies, and death released us from this form (Kahn 2001).

After the Pythagoreans

Once the term was solidifed by Pythagoreas, it was used by other prominent philosophers, including Leibniz, Giordano Bruno, and others.

Leibniz's influence

Leibniz is the main contributor to the meaning of monads. He uses the term Monadology to describe his theory of monads. The basis of his theory of monads is there must be simple substances that make up “composites” in other words more complex forms such as human beings. A monad is the smallest part of a composite. (discourse on method) This can be compared to the modern term atom. Directly from Leibniz’s writings he states, “These Monads are the true Atoms of nature ,and ,in fact, the Elements of things.” (Leibniz, Arnauld & Montgomery 1902)

Also, Leibniz used the term monad to describe the concept of souls. In regards to Leibniz the term monads came from the Greek word monos, when translated monos literally means unit. According to Leibniz monads have characteristics such as "energy-laden" and "soul-invested" (Beck 1969).

Types of Monads

4 Types of Monads: Leibniz designated four different types of monads. The first type is supreme monad. This monad is at the top of the hierarchy of life. This monad could be designated as fitting the role of God. The second type of monad is the rational monad. Rational monads are defined as existing as the conscious and rational minds of humans. These monads are able to utilize the term apperception, which is also another concept Leibniz came up with. The third monad is sentient monads. Sentient monads are the souls that are present within living things that are not considered human, such as a dog (. These Monads are not capable of apperception but do have the ability to have physical perceptions of their surroundings. The fourth and final monad is the simple monads. Simple monads are present in all forms that exist these monads can come in the form of a rock or a human. Leibniz theorized that all of these different types of monads interact with one another in a way that he described as psychophysical parallelism (Fancher & Rutherford 2012).

Apperception

Leibniz defines apperception as the process of transferring physical perceptions into conscious awareness (Fancher & Rutherford 2012).

Psychophysical parallelism

This could be compared to parallel universes. Each monad follows their own individual path through life; they never influence one another directly (Fancher & Rutherford 2012).

Appetition

This is a fundamental process of monads in which the monads internally change from one state to another (Rutherford & Cover 2005). The states in which the monads transform are within the realm of perception (Leibniz, Arnauld & Montgomery 1902).

Modern Day Monadology

After the use of the term by Leibniz, other philosophers followed similar paths of idealistic philosophical thought, but metaphysical beliefs have been declining as time moves forward. There is no solid evidence to show that the term "monad" was continuously used by any specific philosopher, although some philosophers following Leibniz did briefly mention his monadology whilst critiquing his works. One of these philosophers is Immanuel Kant.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Although Kant worked in the same basic framework as Leibniz, his works and beliefs reflect as entirely anti-Leibnizian (Posy 1997). Kant did critque the metaphysical ideas set forth by Leibniz (specifically his hierarchy of monads/monadology), but Kant's revised ideas retired the use of the term "monad" and instead used other terminology to explain his beliefs.

Post-Kantian, a few other philosophers followed that used Leibniz's monadology to support or contrast their works, but none used the terminology involved. These philosophers include Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Heigel (1770-1831) and even more modern philosophers such as: Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), and Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) (Fancher & Raymond 2012).

Literature

Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind (Kulstad & Carlin 2013)

This is an article is a summation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s philosophical concepts presented in his literary work Philosophy of Mind.

Pioneers of Psychology 4th Edition (Fancher & Rutherford 2012)

This is a book that presents historical background on key figures in the field of psychology including individual contributions. Monads are referenced in Chapter 2 of the book in correspondence with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Kant’s Critic of Pure reason (Weldon 1957)

The main philosophical concepts of this book belong to Immanuel Kant. The author of the book, T.D. Weldon, included philosophers who influenced Kant’s work including Leibniz and his concept of Monads.

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans (Kahn 2001)

This book is a compilation of history regarding Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. Included in the book is the concept of monads used by the Pythagoreans including Plato’s view of monads.

The Metaphysical and Geometrical Doctrine of Bruno (Atanasijević 1972)

This book is a translation of the original French version of Giordano Bruno’s The Metaphysical and Geometrical Doctrine. Included within Bruno’s literary work is his personal philosophy on the term monad.

Leibniz Discourse on Metaphysics (Leibniz, Arnauld & Montgomery 1902)

This is a translation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s philosophical writings Discourse on Metaphysics. This included Leibniz’s philosophies on Monadology.

Leibniz Nature and Freedom (Rutherford & Cover 2005)

This is compilation of modern scholarly essays on the work of Leibniz. This literature discusses Leibnitz’s philosophies on monads through a modern lens in hopes to understand Leibniz’s philosophical concepts more thoroughly.

Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors (Beck 1969)

This is a book presenting past German philosophers. It has a wide array of philosophers including Leibniz and Kant. The philosophical concept of monads is presented within this text.

References

• Morris, M. &Morris, C. R. (1965). "Leibniz: Philosophical Writings"

• Puryear, S. (2010). "Monadic interaction. British Journal for the History of Philosophy" 18(5), 763-796

• Lagerlund, H. (2011). "The unity of efficient and final causality: The mind/body problem reconsidered". British Journal for the History of Philosophy 19(4). 587-603

• Diogenes Laertius, "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers", translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925), Loeb Classical Library.

• Funk & Wagnalls (2009). "Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia". World Almanac Education Group.

• Sandywell, Barry. "Presocratic Reflexivity: The Construction of Philosophical Discourse C". 600-450 BC. Routledge, 1996.

• Posy, C. J. (1997). "Between Leibniz and Mill: Kant's Logic and the Rhetoric of Psychologism". Philosophy and Rhetoric, 30 (3), 243-270.

• Monad. (2008, April 3). "New World Encyclopedia". Retrieved 20:49, November 24, 2013 from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Monad&oldid=686997

• Atanasijević, K. (1972). "The metaphysical and geometrical doctrine of Bruno, as given in his work De triplici minimo". St. Louis, Mo.: W.H. Green.

• Beck, L. W. (1969). "Early German philosophy: Kant and his predecessors". Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

• Fancher, Raymond E., and Alexandra Rutherford. "Pioneers of Psychology: A History". 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.

• Kahn, C. H. (2001). "Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: a brief history". Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub..

• Kulstad, Mark and Carlin, Laurence, "Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/leibniz-mind/.

• Leibniz, G. W., Arnauld, A., & Montgomery, G. R. (1902). "Leibniz Discourse on metaphysics; Correspondence with Arnauld and Monadology". Chicago: Open Court Pub. Co.; [etc.].

• Rutherford, D., & Cover, J. A. (2005). "Leibniz: nature and freedom". Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Weldon, T. (1957). "Kant’s Critic of Pure reason" (2 ed.). London: Oxford University Press.