34 INTRODUCTION 



The word is almost as old as European philosophy, and 

 has varied greatly in meaning and application. Shortly 

 before the time of Leibniz the term was used by Giordano 

 Bruno, whose Monads were ultimate spherical points, 

 regarded as possessing both spiritual and material charac- 

 teristics. There are some parts of the philosophy of 

 Bruno with which the doctrine of Leibniz has affinity, 

 as, for instance, Bruno's contention that there is nothing, 

 however little or valueless, that does not contain in it 

 life or soul. But Leibniz repeatedly attacks the doctrine 

 of a world-soul, which is Bruno's central conception. 

 Thus, in adopting the term 'Monad,' Leibniz may be said 

 to have taken from Bruno little more than the name \ 



The Monad, then, has perception, but not necessarily 

 in the sense of consciousness. For consciousness is not 

 the essence of perception, but merely an additional 

 determination belonging to certain kinds or degrees of 

 , perception. Conscious perception is called by Leibniz 

 ' Apperception.' But the essence of perception in general 

 is that in it we have a unity variously modified or a unity 

 .which appears in a multiplicity of relations. 'I have 

 many ideas [ Vorstellungen], wealth of thoughts is in me ; 

 and yet I remain, in spite of this variety, one 2 .' But 

 it is not necessarily because I am conscious of many 

 thoughts or many objects that I 'perceive' and thus 

 exhibit a multiplicity in unity. All representation is 



more have a shape than souls have. They are not parts of bodies, 

 but presuppositions of them.' Epistola ad Bierlingium (1712) (G-. 

 vii. 503). 



1 Professor Ludwig Stein, in his Leibniz und Spinoza, has shown 

 that the term * Monad ' was actually suggested to Leibniz, not by 

 the writings of Bruno, but by Leibniz's contemporary, Fra^ois 

 Mercure Van Helmont (1618-1699), with whom he had much 

 intercourse and considerable correspondence. 57 novas to the Greek 

 meant simply the unit in arithmetic. Leibniz himself attributes 

 the term to Pythagoras. In the sense of a numerical unit it occurs 

 in Plato (Philebus, 15 B ; Phaedo, 105 C, 101 E). But Leibniz's chief 

 forerunner in the use of the term was Bruno. It is also used by 

 Nicholas of Cusa. 



3 Hegel, Geschichte der Philosophic, iii. 412. 



