Leibniz and the Existence of God
Chris Brozstek PHIL 1050. 010 Leibniz and the Existence of God The existence of God has always been a controversial subject though despite what others thought Leibniz did believe in the existence of God. Leibniz goes on attempting to explain God using a priori and a posteriori arguments and also proving God using monads. Leibniz’s a priori explanation of God is that the concept which everyone has of God is that of a most perfect being, a greater being cannot be conceived. Therefore God must really exist; otherwise He would no longer be that most perfect being, for He would lack real existence.
Leibniz goes on to constantly emphasize this but he later attempts to prove God and his argument. This kind of explanation tends to be very typical but Leibniz uses two a posterior explanations again attempting to prove God. The first is based on pre-established harmony in so far as such harmony demands an author, and this is God. The second is based on the principle of sufficient reason: Everything that exists must have sufficient reason for existing, and this reason is God.
The pre-established harmony that Leibniz talks about involves his own theory concerning a substance or molecule more less that is called a monad. Leibniz tries to solidify the existence of God by defining what monads are and what they do. God, Who is the highest Monad, is changeless and has no modification. He is the absolutely real being. But the great importance which Leibniz gives to logic and mathematics, considering them to be examples of eternal truths, makes him think that the laws of human thought are binding on God.
Each monad is a unique, indestructible, dynamic, soul-like entity whose properties are a function of its perceptions and appetites. Monads have no true causal relation with other monads, but all are perfectly synchronized with each other by God in a pre-established harmony. The relation between God and the monads Leibniz speaks of in different ways. Sometimes he thinks that they are eternal, sometimes that they are created by God, Who can even estroy them, if He wills, and sometimes that they are manifestations of God Himself. If they are eternal, they must be different from God and have nothing to do with God, in which case they cannot reach the perfection of God. Further, as they are limited entities, they cannot be eternal. If they are not eternal, they must be perishable and have no real worth in them. Leibniz’s entire attempt to explain and prove the existence of God is flawed within the own boundaries that he gives the substance that God is composed of.
With all of the effort that Leibniz goes through to explain God his own theories and concepts limit that belief. Instead of proving God Leibniz only causes more questions and less answers. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. radicalacademy. com/adiphilglossary. htm#ontological%20argument [ 2 ]. http://www. radicalacademy. com/philleibniz. htm [ 3 ]. Leibniz, G. W. Discorse on Metaphysics and Other Works. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1991. Print
