Mind-Body Relationship According to Leibniz
Prerequisite:
Activity of Monads
Leibniz tries to solve the mind-body problem through his theory of Mind-Body Parallelism. Accordingly, the mind and body are two separate substances. They do not interact with each other but run parallel to each other.
For Leibniz, the mind is a non-physical substance that is separate from the body that has its own distinct set of properties, such as thoughts, beliefs, and desires.
The body is a physical substance with its own distinct set of properties, such as mass, extension, and motion, which are different from the mental properties of the mind.
The analogy Leibniz uses is that of a clockmaker and his two clocks. God is the clockmaker and the two clocks are the Mind and Body, keeping in sync with each other like two clocks always showing the same time.
Leibniz says that the mind and body do not interact with each other directly.
Mental and physical events happen simultaneously and in perfect correspondence, but without any causal interaction between them. This means that mental events do not cause physical events and vice versa.
The reason why mental and physical events are always in synchronicity with each other is because of Pre-Established Harmony by God. God has created the world in such a way that mental and physical events always run in parallel with each other, without any causal interaction between them.
Leibniz’s philosophy wasn’t without criticism, some of them are:
- Pre-Established harmony lacks any sort of empirical evidence
- Truth by reason means that knowledge is innate. Empiricists disagree that any such knowledge is possible.
- Leibniz also attempts to establish that space and time are abstract concepts. He says that without objects, space wouldn't exist and without events, time wouldn't exist. Both space and time are relative concepts and don't really have an existence. Critics say that this is unrealistic and too idealistic.
