PHILOS 25B Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Apperception, Monadology
Document Summary
Negative features: monads have no extension or shape, because if they were extended, they would be divisible and therefore not (because they are not extended) monads are not material. Positive features: monads must have qualities (monadology 8, reason 1: otherwise they wouldn"t be beings at all. If something exists, it must have qualities: reason 2: otherwise, the composites which the monads constitute would not have any variety, nor would they be susceptible to change. The entire universe would be completely homogenous: every monad is qualitatively unique ( 9) a. If you have two qualitatively identical things, the only way they can be distinguished is by spatial relations. But monads do not exist in space, so they cannot be individuated in this way. Therefore, in order to be distinct, monads must have unique qualities. A mind has no internal parts, yet a mind can clearly undergo change because it can have different ideas, thoughts, mental states, etc.
