Essay on Modern Philosophy Leibniz

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Final causes are useful in physics * “The soul follows its own laws and the body likewise follows its own; and they agree by virtue of the preestablished harmony among all substances, because they are all representations of one self-same universe.” –Leibniz-- * “Souls act according to the laws of final causes through appetition, ends, and means. Bodies act according to the laws of efficient causes or of motions. And the two realms, that of efficient causes and that of final causes, are harmonious with one another.”—Leibniz— * The world has two realms: (1) bodily realm that is governed by efficient causation and (2) the realm of the souls that is governed by final causation. Any given substance is endowed with the powers of perception and appetite. Leibniz defines appetition as “the action of the internal principle which brings about the change or the passage from one perception to another.” Appetitions are responsible for the activity of substances. Since substances are governed by laws of final causes, it can be concluded that appetitions lead a substance to strive for certain future perceptual states (final causes). * “The present state of body is born from the preceding state through the laws of efficient causes; the present state of the soul is born from its preceding state through the laws of final causes. The one is the place of the series of motion, the other of the series of appetites; the one is passed from cause to effect, the other from end to means. And in fact, it may be said that the representation of the end in the soul is the efficient cause of the representation in the same soul of the means.” –Leibniz— * Leibniz suggests that final causes themselves produce future perceptions by way of efficient causation * Without final causes we can
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