Monadology

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a 17th - 18th century philosopher, mathematician, and polymath who is regarded as being prescient in introducing concepts that have been adapted and developed in modern science, logic, mathematics, and philosophy. Currently, his metaphysical theory of monads is considered by some to be a useful idea with respect to interpreting the strange findings of quantum mechanics. We will try to discern this connection by reading and discussing his paper “Monadology (http://www.rbjones.com/rbjpub/philos/classics/leibniz/monad.htm).“ This paper is short – only about ten pages – and further explanations and commentaries are fairly easy to find. But if you really want a shorter version, Squashed Philosophers has condensed it (http://sqapo.com/leibniz.htm) into, they claim, a fifteen minute read. (They don't say how many times you have to read it before you understand it.) Leibniz has also been called the philosopher's philosopher. We challenge you to become the MISF Philosophy Study Group member's MISF Philosophy Study Group member by absorbing what Leibniz has to say and elucidating it for the rest of us.