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Source: Textes inédits tome 2 Gaston Grua (ed) p 559 Sämtliche schriften und briefe series VI volume II Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed) pp 287-88 Date: spring - autumn 1671 Note - Leibniz' own deletions are enclosed in square brackets [ ... ] Translated from the Latin View this translation in PDF format (10k) Back to home page Search texts by keyword(s): (For search strings, just type the words; don't use quotation marks) |
LEIBNIZ: TRINITY. MIND.[Gr p559] [A VI 2 p287] GOD. MIND. Understanding, Power
Just as God would survive if creatures were destroyed, so Mind survives when the body is destroyed. And as God thinks things that he does not perceive by any sense, because they follow from his own nature, so [A VI 2 p288] does Mind. As Mind, thinking about action and existing things, has understanding and will or disposition, so God has the word and love. If however God did not think himself to be in act, he would certainly think, but would neither perceive nor have happiness. As it cannot be otherwise than that God thinks himself to be in act, so it cannot be otherwise than that Mind thinks itself to be in act. Mind and God do not differ except that one is finite and the other infinite. © Lloyd Strickland 2004 With gratitude to John Thorley for advice and suggestions |