Gottfried Leibniz Relation Between The Mind And Body?

What is the relationship between the mind and body? The problem of the mind-body relationship is still ongoing and the quest to find answers can be traced back deep into history. This relationship was one of main issues discussed in the 17th Century Metaphysics. Several opinions exist and each philosopher had his/her own analysis with the supporting evidences. The main question that the philosophers were trying to answer is how do the states of the mind affect that of the body and vice versa? Some philosophers believed that both the mind and body are fully correlated where other philosopher said that no correlation exists at all. Two extremely different views as we can see. Gottfried Leibniz, one of the greatest philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, had his own explanation which we will discuss next.

So, the question is: is there any causal correlation between the mind and the body according to Leibniz? For him, this is impossible. The mind cannot act upon the body and the body cannot act upon the mind. For Leibniz, a substance cannot affect another substance. So the mind as a substance cannot affect the body as a substance. These are two different finite substances. But how does Leibniz explain the pain I feel when I cut my finger or anything in my body? The cut of my finger led my brain to signal pain so I felt it. If there is no causal correlation, then how did this occur? Leibniz answers this question by saying that although there is no causal relation between mind and the body, they act in a perfectly coordinated way; they act as if there is causal relation between both. In other words, there is a previously established harmony between both. So one asks now, what or who caused this harmony?

God would be the...

... middle of paper ...

...t have a more distinct perception with memory. For example, the human minds and souls have feelings, memory and are self-conscious.

But when we are in a deep and dreamless dream, isn’t the soul similar to a simple monad? Leibniz gives a direct answer in principle 20 where he says it is true that in a dreamless dream the soul is quite similar to simple monads, but this state doesn’t last and the soul arises from it shortly. For Leibniz, this is also a proof for the difference between souls and simple monads.

Each monad is a world in itself. Monads are the only genuine beings that exist. They were formed by the infinite monad, God. Monads are simple but contain qualities. Monads are endowed with perception. Through his theory of monads and the theory of pre-established harmony, Leibniz believes that everything consists of monads in a world of pre-established harmony.