Chapter ID: CBB001500211

Monads and Machines (2011)

unapi

Pauline Phemister raises a number of queries and problems concerning the distinction between living and non-living machines. Leibniz contends that the presence of the dominating monad “in” the mass that comprises the organic body gives rise to the animal or corporeal substance that exists as a living, unified entity. From pre-formed seeds, the organic body of this corporeal substance comes into existence as a living machine that is also a machine in the least of its parts and whose organizational structure and internal complexity sustains and preserves it as a biological entity. However, if, granting pre-formation, physiological functions are explicable solely by appeal to the mechanism of the body, what need is there for the dominating monad? Conversely, how can Leibniz rule out pre-formation in bodies we normally presume to be inanimate and as lacking dominating monads? Examination of common defining characteristics of living machines – self-motion, self-repair, nutrition, reproduction and inner complexity – brings into focus some of the difficulties and limitations attached to the use of such empirical data to distinguish living from non-living machines.

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Book Smith, Justin E. H.; Nachtomy, Ohad (2011) Machines of Nature and Corporeal Substances in Leibniz. unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Nachtomy, Ohad
Smith, Justin E. H.
Andrault, Raphaële
Rumore, Paola
Schmit, Christophe
Roland, Jeanne
Concepts
Mechanism; mechanical philosophy
Philosophy of science
Philosophy
Physiology
Nature
Soul (philosophy)
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
Early modern
20th century
19th century
16th century
Places
Germany
Europe
England
Netherlands
Institutions
Académie Royale des Sciences (France)
Académie des Sciences, Paris
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