METAPHYSICS: I. Concerning the divine perfection and that God does everything in the most desirable way.
The conception of God which is the most common and the most full of meaning is expressed well enough in the words: God is an absolutely perfect being. The implications, however, of these words fail to receive sufficient consideration. For in- stance, there are many different kinds of perfection, all of which God possesses, and each one of them pertains to him in the highest degree.
We must also know what perfection is. One thing which can surely be affirmed about it is that those forms or natures which are not susceptible of it to the highest degree, say the nature of numbers or of figures, do not permit of perfection. This is because the number which is the greatest of all (that is, the sum of all the numbers), and likewise the greatest of all figures, imply contradictions. The greatest knowledge, however, and omnipotence contain no impossibility. Consequently power and knowledge do admit of perfection, and in so far as they pertain to God they have no limits.
Whence it follows that God who _ possesses supreme and infinite wisdom acts in the most per- fect manner not only metaphysically, but also from the moral standpoint. And with respect to our 3 4 LEIBNIZ.
selves it can be said that the more we are enlightened and informed in regard to the works of God the more will we be disposed to find them excellent and conforming entirely to that which we might desire.
II. Against those who hold that there is in the works of God no goodness, or that the principles of goodness and beauty are arbitrary.
Therefore I am far removed from the opinion of those who maintain that there are no principles of goodness or perfection in the nature of things, or in the ideas which God has about them, and who say that the works of God are good only through the formal reason that God has made them. If this position were true, God, knowing that he ts the author of things, would not have to regard them afterwards and find them good, as the Holy Scrip- ture witnesses. Such anthropological expressions are used only to let us know that excellence 1s recognized in regarding the works themselves, even if we do not consider their evident dependence on their author. This is confirmed by the fact that it is in reflecting upon the works that we are able to discover the one who wrought. They must there- fore bear in themselves his character. I confess that the contrary opinion seems to me extremely dangerous and closely approaches that of recent innovators who hold that the beauty of the universe and the goodness which we attribute to the works of God are chimeras of human beings who think of God in human terms. In saying, therefore, that things are not good according to any standard of goodness, but simply by the will of God, it seems DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 5 to me that one destroys, without realizing it, all the love of God and all his glory; for why praise him for what he has done, if he would be equally praiseworthy in doing the contrary? Where will be his justice and his wisdom if he has only a cer- tain despotic power, if arbitrary will takes the place of reasonableness, and if in accord with the defini- tion of tyrants, justice consists in that which is pleasing to the most powerful? Besides it seems that every act of willing supposes some reason for the willing and this reason, of course, must precede the act. This is why, accordingly, I find so strange those expressions of certain philosophers who say that the eternal truths of metaphysics and Geometry, and consequently the principles of goodness, of justice, and of perfection, are effects only of the will of God. To me it seems that all these follow from his understanding, which does not depend upon his will any more than does his essence.
III. Against those who think that God might have made things better than he has.
No more am I able to approve of the opinion of certain modern writers who boldly maintain that that which God has made is not perfect in the highest degree, and that he might have done better. It seems to me that the consequences of such an opinion are wholly inconsistent with the glory of God. Un minus malum habet rationem bont, tta minus bonum habet rationem mah. 1 think that one acts imperfectly if he acts with less perfection than he is capable of. To show that an architect could have done better is to find fault with his work. Furthermore this opinion ts contrary to the 6 LEIBNIZ.
Holy Scriptures when they assure us of the good- ness of God’s work. For if comparative perfection were sufficient, then in whatever way God had accomplished his work, since there is an infinitude of possible imperfections, 1t would always have been good in comparison with the less perfect; but a thing is little praiseworthy when it can be praised only in this way.
I believe that a great many passages from the divine writings and from the holy fathers will be found favoring my position, while hardly any will be found in favor of that of these modern thinkers. Their opinion is, in my judgment, unknown to the writers of antiquity and is a deduction based upon the too slight acquaintaince which we have with the general harmony of the universe and with the hidden reasons for God’s conduct. In our igno- rance, therefore, we are tempted to decide auda- ciously that many things might have been done better.
These modern thinkers insist upon certain hardly tenable subtleties, for they imagine that nothing is so perfect that there might not have been something more perfect...This)! is.anverror «They, think, indeed, that they are thus safeguarding the liberty of God. As if it were not the highest liberty to act in perfection according to the sovereign reason. For to think that God acts in anything without hav- ing any reason for his willing, even if we overlook the fact that such action seems impossible, is an opinion which conforms little to God’s glory. For example, let us suppose that God chooses between A and B, and that he takes A without any reason for preferring it to B. I say that this action on the DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 7 patt of God is at least not praiseworthy, for all praise ought to be founded upon reason which ez hypothest is not present here. My opinion is that God does nothing for which he does not deserve to, be glorified IV. That love for God demands on our part complete satisfaction with and acquiescence in that which he has done.
The general knowledge of this great truth that God acts always in the most perfect and most desirable manner possible, is in my opinion the basis of the love which we owe to God in all things; for he who loves seeks his satisfaction in the felicity or perfection of the object loved and in the perfec- tion of his actions. Jdem velle et 1tdem nolle vera amiutia est. I believe that it ts difficult to love God truly when one, having the power to change his disposition, is not disposed to wish for that which God desires. In fact those who are not satisfied with what God does seem to me like dis- satisfied subjects whose attitude is not very differ- ent Irom that of rebels. I hold therefore, that on these principles, to act conformably to the love of God it is not sufficient to force oneself to be patient, we must be really satisfied with all that comes to us according to his will. I mean this acquiescence in regard to the past; for as regards the future one should not be a quietist with the arms folded, epen to ridicule, awaiting that which God will do; according to the sophism which the ancients called Aeyov depyev, the lazy reason. It is necessary to act conformably to the presumptive will of God as tar as we are able to judge of it, trying with all our 8 LEIBNIZ.
8 LEIBNIZ.
might to contribute to the general welfare and par- ticularly to the ornamentation and the perfection of that which touches us, or of that which is nigh and so to speak at our hand. For if the future shall perhaps show that God has not wished our good intention to have its way, it does not follow that he has not wished us to act as we have; on the con- trary, since he is the best of all masters, he ever demands only the right intentions, and it is for him to know the hour and the proper place to let good designs succeed.
V. In what the principles of the divine perfection consist, and that the simplicity of the means counter- balances the richness of the effects.
It is sufficient therefore to have this confidence in God, that he has done everything for the best and that nothing will be able to injure those who love him. To know in particular, however, the reasons which have moved him to choose this order of the universe, to permit sin, to dispense his salutary grace in a certain manner,—this passes the capacity of a finite mind, above all when sucha mind has not come into the joy of the vision of God. Yet it is possible to make some general remarks touching the course of providence in the government of things. One is able to say, therefore, that he who acts perfectly is like an excellent Geometer who knows how to find the best construction for a prob- lem; like a good architect who utilizes his location and the funds destined for the building in the most advantageous manner, leaving nothing which shocks or which does not display that beauty of DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS, 9 which it is capable; like a good householder who employs his property in such a way that there shall be nothing uncultivated or sterile; like a clever machinist who makes his production in the least difficult way possible; and like an intelligent author who encloses the most of reality in the least possi- ble compass.
Of all beings those which are the most perfect and occupy the least possible space, that is to say those which interfere with one another the least, are the spirits whose perfections are the virtues. That is why we may not doubt that the felicity of the spirits is the principal aim of God and that he puts this purpose into execution, as far as the general har- mony will permit. We will recur to this subject again.
When the simplicity of God’s way is spoken of, reference is specially made to the means which he employs, and on the other hand when the variety, richness and abundance are referred to, the ends or effects are had in mind. Thus one ought to be proportioned to the other, just as the cost of a building should balance the beauty and grandeur which is expected. It is true that nothing costs God anything, just as there is no cost for a philos- opher who makes hypotheses in constructing his imaginary world, because God has only to make decrees in order that a real world come into being; but in matters of wisdom the decrees or hypotheses meet the expenditure in proportion as they are more independent of one another. The reason wishes to avoid multiplicity in hypotheses or prin- ciples very much as the simplest system is preferred in Astronomy.
190 LEIBNIZ, VI. That God does nothing which is not orderly, and that it is not even possible to conceive of events which are not regular.
The activities or the acts of will of God are com- monly divided into ordinary and extraordinary: But it is well to bear in mind that God does nothing out of order. Therefore, that which passes for extraordinary is so only with regard to a particular order established among the created things, for as regards the universal order, everything conforms to it. This is so true that not only does nothing occur in this world which is absolutely irregular, but it is even impossible to conceive of such an occur- rence. Because, let us suppose for example that some one jots down a quantity of points upon a sheet of paper helter skelter, as do those who exercise the ridiculous art of Geomancy; now I say that it is possible to find a geometrical line whose concept shall be uniform and constant, that is, in accordance with a certain formula, and which line at the same time shall. pass through all of those points, and in the same order in which the hand jotted them down; also if a continuous line be traced, which ts now straight, now circular, and now of any other description, it is possible to find a mental equiva- lent, a formula or an equation common to all the points of this line by virtue of which formula the changes in the direction of the line must occur. There is no instance of a face whose contour does not form part of a geometric line and which can not be traced entire by a certain mathematical motion. But when the formula is very complex, that which conforms to it passes for irregular. Thus we may DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. It say that in whatever manner God might have created the world, it would always have been regu- lar and in a certain order. God, however, has chosen the most perfect, that is to say the one which ts at the same time the simplest in hypotheses and the richest in phenomena, as might be the case with a geometric line, whose construction was easy, but whose properties and effects were extremely remarkable ‘and of great significance. I use these comparisons to picture a certain imperfect resem- blance to the divine wisdom, and to point out that which may at least raise our minds to conceive in some sort what cannot otherwise be expressed: I do not pretend at all to explain thus the great mys- tery upon which depends the whole universe.
VII. That miracles conform to the regular order although they go against the subordinate regulations; concerning that which God desires or permits and con- cerning general and particular intentions.
Now since nothing is done which is not orderly, we may say that miracles are quite within the order of natural operations. We use the term natural of these operations because they conform to certain subordinate regulations which we call the nature of things. For it can be said that this nature is only a custom of God’s which he can change on the occasion of a stronger reason than that which moved him to use these regulations. As regards general and particular intentions, according to the way in which we understand the matter, it may be said on the one hand that everything is in accor- dance with his most general intention, or that which best conforms to the most perfect order he has 12 LEIBNIZ, chosen; on the other hand, however, it is also pos- sible to say that he has particular intentions which are exceptions to the subordinate regulations above mentioned. Of God’s laws, however, the most universal, i. e., that which rules the whole course of the universe, is without exceptions.
It is possible to say that God desires everything which is an object of his particular intention. When we consider the objects of his general inten- tions, however, such as are the modes of activities of created things and especially of the reasoning creatures with whom God wishes to co-operate, we must make a distinction; for if the action is good in itself, we may say that God wishes it and at times commands it, even though it does not take place; but if it is bad in itself and becomes good only by accident through the course of events and especially after chastisement and satisfaction have corrected its malignity and rewarded the tll with interest in such a way that more perfection results in the whole train of circumstances than would have come if that ill had not occurred, -—if all this takes place we must say that God permits the evil, and not that he desired it, although he has co-operated by means of the laws of nature which he has established. He knows how to produce the greatest good from them.
VIII. In order to distinguish between the activities of God and the activities of created things we must explain the conception of an individual substance.
It is quite difficult to distinguish God’s actions from those of his creatures. Some think that God does everything; others imagine that he only con- DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 13 serves the force that he has given to created things. How far can we say either of these opinions is right?
In the first place since activity and passivity per- tain properly to individual substances (actiones sunt suppositorum) it will be necessary to explain what such a substance is. It is indeed true that when several predicates are attributes of a single subject and this subject is not an attribute of another, we speak of it as an individual substance, but this is not enough, and such an explanation is merely nom- inal. We must therefore inquire what it is to be an attribute in reality of a certain subject. Now it is evident that every true predication has some basis in the nature of things, and even when a proposition is not identical, that is, when the predicate is not expressly contained in the subject, it is still neces- sary that it be virtually contained in it, and this is what the philosophers call z#-esse, saying thereby that the predicate is in the subject. Thus the con- tent of the subject must always include that of the predicate in such a way that if one understands perfectly the concept of the subject, he will know that the predicate appertains to it also. This being so, we are able to say that this is the nature of an individual substance or of a complete being, namely, to afford a conception so complete that the concept shall be sufficient for the understanding of it and for the deduction of all the predicates of which the substance is or may become the subject. Thus the quality of king, which belonged to Alexander the Great, an abstraction from the subject, is not suff- ciently determined to constitute an individual, and does not contain the other qualities of the same subject, nor everything which the idea of this 14 LEIBNIZ.
prince includes. God, however, seeing the tindi- vidual concept, or hzcceity, of Alexander, sees there at the same time the basis and the reason of ail the predicates which can be truly uttered regard- ing him; tor instance that he will conquer Dartus and Porus, even to the point of knowing @ prior (and not by experience) whether he died a natural death or by poison,—facts which we can learn only through history. When we carefully consider the connection of things we see also the possibility of saying that there was always in the soul of Alexan- der marks of ail that had happened to him and evidences of ali that would happen to him and traces even of everything which occurs in the unt- verse, although God alone could recognize them all.
IX. That every individual substance expresses tha whole universe in its own manner and that in its full concept is included all its experiences together with all the attendent circumstances and the whole sequence of exterior events.
There foilow from these considerations several noticeable paradoxes; among others that it is not true that two substances may be exactly alike and differ only numerically, solo numero, and that what St. Thomas says on this point regarding angels and intelligences (gvod 1bt omne tndividuum sit species tnfima) is true of all substances, provided that the specific difference is understood as Geometers understand 1¢ in the case of figures; again that a substance will be able to commence only through creation and perish only through annihilation; that a substance cannot be divided into two nor can ome be made out of two, and that thus the number o€ DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 15 substances neither augments nor diminishes through natural means, although they are frequentiy trans: formed. Furthermore every substance is like an entire woritd and like a mirror of God, or indeed of the whole world which it portrays, each one in its own fashion; almost as the same city is variously represented according to the various situations of him who is regarding it. Thus the universe is mul- tiplied in some sort as many times as there are sub- stances, and the glory of God is multiplied in the same way by as many wholly different representa- tions of his works. It can indeed be said that every substance bears in some sort the character of God’s infinite wisdom and omnipotence, and imitates him as much as it 1s able to; for it expresses, although confusedly, all that happens in the universe, past, present and future, deriving thus a certain resem- blance to an infinite perception or power of know- ing. And since al! other substances express this particular substance and accommodate themselves to it, we can say that it exerts its power upon all the others in imitation of the omnipotence of the cre- ator.
X. That the belief in substantial forms has a cer- tain basis in fact, but that these forms effect no changes in the phenomena and must not be employed for the explanation of particular events.
It seems that the ancients, able men, who were accustomed to profound meditations and taught the- ology and philosophy for several centuries and some of whom recommend themselves to us on account of their piety, had some knowledge of that which we have just said and this is why they introduced and 16 LEIBNIZ.
maintained the substantial forms so much decried to-day. But they were not so far from the truth nor so open to ridicule as the common run of our new philosophers imagine. I grant that the con- sideration of these forms is of no service in the details of physics and ought not to be employed in the explanation of particular phenomena. Inregard to this last point, the schoolmen were at fault, as were also the physicians of times past who followed their example, thinking they had given the reason for the properties of a body in mentioning the forms and qualities without going to the trouble of exam- ining the manner of operation; as if one should be content to say that a clock had a certain amount of clockness derived from its form, and should not inquire in what that clockness consisted. This is indeed enough for the man who buys it, provided he surrenders the care of it to someone else. The fact, however, that there was this misunderstanding and misuse of the substantial forms should not bring us to throw away something whose recognition is so necessary in metaphysics. Since without these we will not be able, I hold, to know the ultimate principles nor to lift our minds to the knowledge of the incorporeal natures and of the marvels of Gods* Yet as" the “eeometer’ does’ "not m¢ed “to encumber his mind with the famous puzzle of the composition of the continuum, and as no moralist, and still less a jurist or a statesman has need to trouble himself with the great difficulties which arise in conciliating free will with the providential activity of God, (since the geometer is able to make all his demonstrations and the statesman can com- plete all his deliberations without entering into DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 17 these discussions which are so necessary and impor- tant in Philosophy and Theology), so in the same way the physicist can explain his experiments, now using simpler experiments already made, now employing geometrical and mechanical demonstra- tions without any need of the general considerations which belong to another sphere, and if he employs the co-operation of God, or perhaps of some soul or animating force, or something else of a similar nature, he goes out of his path quite as much as that man who, when facing an important practical ques- tion would wish to enter into profound argumenta- tions regarding the nature of destiny and of our liberty; a fault which men quite frequently com- mit without realizing it when they cumber their minds with considerations regarding fate, and thus they are even sometimes turned from a good reso- lution or from some necessary provision.
XI. That the opinions of the theologians and of the so-called scholastic philosophers are not to be wholly despised, I know that I am advancing a great paradox in pretending to resuscitate in some sort the ancient philosophy, and to recall postlminio the substan- tial forms almost banished from our modern thought. But perhaps I will not be condemned lightly when it is known that I have long meditated over the modern philosophy and that I have devoted much time to experiments in physics and to the demon- strations of geometry and that I, too, for a long time was persuaded of the baselessness of those ‘‘beings’’ which, however, I was finally obliged to take up again in spite of myself and as though by force 18 LEIBNIZ, | The many investigations which I carried on com: pelled me to recognize that our moderns do not do sufficient justice to Saint Thomas and to the other great men of that period and that there is in the theories of the scholastic philosophers and _ theo- logians far more solidity than is imagined, provided that these theories are employed @ propos and in their place. I am persuaded that if some careful and meditative mind were to take the trouble to clarify and direct their thoughts in the manner of analytic geometers, he would find a great treasure of very important truths, wholly demonstrable.
XII. That the conception of the extension of a body is in a way imaginary and does not constitute the sub- stance of the body.
But to resume the thread of our discussion, I believe that he who will meditate upon the nature of substance, as I have explained it above, will find that the whole nature of bodies is not exhausted in their extension, that is to say, in their size, figure and motion, but that we must recognize something which corresponds to soul, something which is com- monly called substantial form, although these forms effect no change in the phenomena, any more than do the souls of beasts, that is if they have souls. It is even possible to demonstrate that the ideas of size, figure and motion are not so distinctive as is imagined, and that they stand for something imag- inary relative to our preceptions as do, although to a greater extent, the ideas of color, heat, and the other similar qualities in regard to which we may doubt whether they are actually to be found in the nature of the things outside of us. This is why DISCOURSE ON METAPHYSICS. 19 these latter qualities are unable to constitute ‘‘sub- stance’’ and if there is no other principle of identity in bodies than that which has just been referred to a body would not subsist more than for a moment.
The souls and the substance-forms of other bodies are entirely different from intelligent souls which alone know their actions, and not only do not perish through natural means but indeed always retain the knowledge of what they are; a fact which makes them alone open to chastisement or recompense, and makes them citizens of the republic of the uni- verse whose monarch is God. Henceit follows that all the other creatures should serve them, a point which we shall discuss more amply later.
XIII. As the individual concept of each person includes once for all everything which can ever happen to him, in it can be seen, a prioré the evidences or the reasons for the reality of each event, and why one hap- pened sooner than the other. But these events, how- ever certain, are nevertheless contingent, being based on the free choice of God and of his creatures. It is true that their choices always have their reasons, but they incline to the choices under no compulsion of necessity.
But before going further it is necessary to meet a difficulty which may arise regarding the principles which we have set forth in the preceding. We have said that the concept of an individual substance includes once for all everything which can ever hap- pen to it and that in considering this concept one will be able to see everything which can truly be said concerning the individual, just as we are able to see in the nature of a circle all the properties which 20 LEIBNIZ.