Monday, March 14, 2016

Perfection, Deity, Species

In #58 of the Monadology, Leibniz correlates "as great a variety as possible, but with the greatest possible order", with "as much perfection as possible".  In other words, Perfection entails Unity and Multiplicity.  Now, in #48, he characterizes the perfection found in his deity as "absolute", which implies that a maximum Multiplicity is attained in that being.  However, throughout the work, it is creation which is multiple, and creator which is one.  So, the relation in the system between the latter and Perfection is unclear.  In contrast, because an Organism is the Unity of a Multiplicity, there is no such problem in attributing a degree of Perfection to a divine Organism.  Indeed, insofar as a Species is the unity of its Members, it is more 'perfect', on Leibniz definition, than any absolutely simple deity of theirs.

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