A theory of monads: outlines of the philosophy of the principle of relativity
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| A theory of monads - PDF by Herbert Wildon Carr |
In this book I have brought together studies which have occupied me for many years, and have tried to impress on them the directive force of my general philosophy of life.
They do not pretend to the completeness of the system, they are not meant to suggest that a final solution to the philosophical problem is to be attained along any definite speculative line, they are not even my voyage of discovery, they are my exploration of the great problem of existence.
Yet while I am conscious that I may have raised more problems than I have elucidated, with regard to one problem at least, I think I may claim to have made an advance.
For many years it seemed to me that philosophy was paralysed by the inability to offer an escape from the solipsistic dilemma, and in the theory of the monads, this difficulty has always seemed to assume its most intractable form.
The argument which I have developed in my second chapter and illustrated in my tenth, may not appeal with the same force to everyone, but it is the argument which satisfies me on this point. Each chapter has an individual theme and may be read by itself. Yet the themes are not strung together as beads on a thread.
They present, at least in their author s mind, a definite order in the development of the philosophical problem, and they are all inspired by the motive of evolving a theory consistent with the principles of the new science.
Some Contents:
INTRODUCTION
PAGE
THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION . . i
PART I
METAPHYSICAL: THE NATURE OF THE MONAD
METAPHYSICAL: THE NATURE OF THE MONAD
CHAPTER I
THE WINDOWLESS MONAD. 15
CHAPTER II
THE MONAD S PERSPECTIVE. .38
CHAPTER III
THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE. .58
CHAPTER IV
THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN PHILOSOPHY. .81
CHAPTER V
THE IDEA OF GOD. -97
THE IDEA OF GOD. -97
PART II
PSYCHOLOGICAL: THE ACTIVITY OF THE MONAD
PSYCHOLOGICAL: THE ACTIVITY OF THE MONAD
CHAPTER VI
THE MOMENT OF EXPERIENCE . . . .123
A monadology is a metaphysical system that interprets the world as a harmonious unity encompassing a plurality of such self-determining simple entities. The term was first used in the early eighteenth century in the metaphysics of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.