"Monadology" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm)

Pref. [E. 475 b; G. vi. 40 sqq.]; 90, 187, 188, 403, 86, 397.)

75. The animals, of which some are raised by means of conception
to the rank of larger animals, may be called spermatic, but those
among them which are not so raised but remain in their own kind
(that is, the majority) are born, multiply, and are destroyed like the
large animals, and it is only a few chosen ones [elus] that pass to
a greater theatre.

76. But this is only half of the truth, and accordingly I hold
that if an animal never comes into being by natural means
[naturellement], no more does it come to an end by natural means;
and that not only will there be no birth [generation], but also no
complete destruction or death in the strict sense. And these
reasonings, made a posteriori and drawn from experience are in perfect
agreement with my principles deduced a priori, as above. (Theod. 90.)

77. Thus it may be said that not only the soul (mirror of an
indestructible universe) is indestructible, but also the animal
itself, though its mechanism [machine] may often perish in part and
take off or put on an organic slough [des depouilles organiques].

78. These principles have given me a way of explaining naturally the
union or rather the mutual agreement [conformite] of the soul and
the organic body. The soul follows its own laws, and the body likewise
follows its own laws; and they agree with each other in virtue of
the pre-established harmony between all substances, since they are all
representations of one and the same universe. (Pref. [E. 475 a; G. vi.
39]; Theod. 340, 352, 353, 358.)

79. Souls act according to the laws of final causes through
appetitions, ends, and means. Bodies act according to the laws of
efficient causes or motions. And the two realms, that of efficient
causes and that of final causes, are in harmony with one another.

80. Descartes recognized that souls cannot impart any force to
bodies, because there is always the same quantity of force in
matter. Nevertheless he was of opinion that the soul could change
the direction of bodies. But that is because in his time it was not
known that there is a law of nature which affirms also the
conservation of the same total direction in matter. Had Descartes
noticed this he would have come upon my system of pre-established
harmony. (Pref. [E. 477 a; G. vi. 44]; Theod. 22, 59, 60, 61, 63,
66, 345, 346 sqq., 354, 355.)

81. According to this system bodies act as if (to suppose the
impossible) there were no souls, and souls act as if there were no
bodies, and both act as if each influenced the other.

82. As regards minds [esprits] or rational souls, though I find that