Leibniz on the Psyche and Consciousness: The Phenomenon of the Unconscious
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47451/phi2020-09-001Keywords:
monad, entelechy, substance, soul, consciousness, unconscious, pre-established harmony, God, reason, all-connection, nature, metaphysics, монада, энтелехия, субстанция, душа, предустановленная гармония, сознание, бессознательное, Бог, разум, природа, метафизикаAbstract
René Descartes put consciousness at the head of the psyche, made it the central theme of philosophy. Its tradition is continued by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who divided the concepts of psyche and consciousness. Along with the concept of the soul, the term psyche appears. Now, not two terms have appeared: soul and consciousness, but three: soul, consciousness, psyche. The article examines Leibniz’s doctrine of monads, the nature of which resembles Aristotle’s description of the entelechy, which allows Leibniz to get away from the dualism of Descartes’ substances, to show their metaphysical connection through the hierarchy of ascent from simple monads to complex ones due to the ability to reflect one monad into another through the all-pervading unity of God. The author makes a complex conclusion about the contribution of Wilhelm Leibniz to the psychology of consciousness.
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