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Source: Sämtliche schriften und briefe series VI volume 4 Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed) p 1492 Date: summer 1683 - winter 1685/6? Translated from the Latin View this translation in PDF format (10k) Back to home page Search texts by category: METAPHYSICS MIND, BODY AND SOUL FREE WILL AND NECESSITY SCIENCE POLITICS, LAW AND ETHICS THEOLOGY |
LEIBNIZ: GOD IS NOT THE SOUL OF THE WORLD[A VI 4, p1492] It can be demonstrated that God is not the soul of the world, for the world is either finite or infinite. If the world is finite, then God, who is infinite, certainly cannot be said to be the soul of the world; but if the world is assumed to be infinite, it is not one being, i.e. one body in itself (just as it has been demonstrated elsewhere that the infinite in number and in magnitude is neither one nor whole). Therefore no soul can be understood in it. Certainly an infinite world is no more one and whole than infinite number, which Galileo has demonstrated is neither one nor whole. There are also other arguments, such as this one: that God is the continuous producer of the world, but the soul is not the producer of its own body. © Lloyd Strickland 2004 |