I think that Leibniz's "pre-established harmony" is simply an early version of thermodyanmics, and/or possibly quantum nonlocality.
A discussion of Leibniz's theory of causation is given on http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-causation/ He states that there are basically only three theories of causation: physical influx, occasionalism, and the pre- established harmony (PEH). Physical in-flux is that of newtonian physics. If a moving ball strikes another, something called "momentum" is transferred from the first to the second ball, which then moves on. Leibniz rejects this because "Leibniz wants to rule out any kind of causation in which one substance passes something on to the other substance: “The way of influence is that of the common philosophy. But since it is impossible to conceive of material particles or of species or immaterial qualities which can pass from one of these substances into the other, the view must be rejected” (GP iv, 498f)." Leibniz also rejects occasionalism, the theory that God intervenes in each action to assure the correct result. The problem with this and physical in-flux is that it ignores secondary reactions and so forth, which should extend globally to all bodies. Instead of these theories of purely localized interactions, Leibniz poffers his theory of pre-established harmony (PEH), in which God has globally specified the paths of moving bodies so that there are no collisions, etc. It appears to me that the PEH is nothing more than the principles of thermodynamics, which assures that large groups of particles act such as to fulfill the basic laws of thermodynamics. Thus the local interactions are fulfilled globally. Quantum nonlocaty might be a second explanation of this. [Roger Clough], [rclo...@verizon.net] 12/17/2012 "Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
