Leibniz And Quantum Physics

[TruthSeeker]

Has anyone ever read the Monadology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monadology)?

According to Leibniz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz#The_Monads), monads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monad) are ""substantial forms of being" with the following properties: they are eternal, indecomposable, individual, subject to their own laws, un-interacting, and each reflecting the entire universe in a pre-established harmony (a historically important example of panpsychism)."

"The monadology was thought arbitrary, even eccentric, in Leibniz's day and since. It now seems less so, in the light of key notions in contemporary physics such as field, and the action at a distance and entanglement characterizing quantum mechanics."


So... is the monad equal to a quanta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanta)? :think:

[Thomas Knierim]

Yes, I have read this text. Somewhere I have an antiquarian edition. It's quite "lean", only 90 paragraphs, but influential. The monad is usually interpreted as a mental entity, or what Christianity would call a soul. Leibniz spoke of "substantial forms of being", which represents the then contemporary that mind is a substance, i.e. a component of the universe. The quantum analogy is interesting, but this is not what Leibniz had in mind. He would probably consider quanta and quantisation as purely phenomenal. In the light of contemporary philosophy of mind, the view of Leibniz is now gaining new devotees. Although they are not employing the concept of monads, the underlying ontology is popular once again with those who don't subscribe to materialistic monism.

Cheers, Thomas

[TruthSeeker]

Materialistic monism!? How could someone conceive that!?!?!? :blink:

Anyways. The connection that I made relates to the size of a monad compared to a quanta, some of their characteristics and their relationship with the universe. Unfortunately, I've only heard a few things about the Monadology, so I don't know the whole book. I never managed to find a copy to read.

Do you think there could be a connection between the underlying ontology of the monads and quantum physics?