Regarding Leibniz* and Wolff **

I have spoken with Lord Wolff and Leibniz about simple substance and preestablished harmony. * Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (or Leibnitz), 1646-1716, an influential German philosopher, writer, and mathematician. According to his Monadology, the universe consists of an infinite number of "monads" or simple substances, and nothing else. These monads are autonomous centers of force, indestructible, indivisible, and eternally active. As every monad contains within it the whole infinity of substance, each is a living mirror of all existence. Each is, however, limited and different from all the rest, mirroring the universe in its own way. Monads do not interact, but are organized to operate synchronously in a "pre-established harmony" instituted by God before their simultaneous creation. They form a continuously ascending series from the lowest to the highest. Although Leibniz sometimes described God as the highest of the monads, he nevertheless could not avoid the difficulties in reconciling the inclusion of God in the monadic series with the Christian doctrine of Divine transcendence. In some places he spoke as though God were outside the series and the cause of the monads' existence, or as though they proceeded from Him by what he called "fulgurations." ** Baron Christian von Wolff (or, less correctly, Wolf), 1679-1754, an influential German philosopher and mathematician. In an attempt to systematize the principles of Leibniz, he developed a comprehensive system of philosophy. Wolff's system gained great popularity and was substantially that taught in most of the German universities in the latter half of the 18th century. It also provided the background to the Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Wolff wrote a very long series of treatises covering nearly the whole field of speculative philosophy.