Hi Platonist Guitar Cowboy A great question.
This world, according to Leibniz (to apply the music metaphor, which Leibniz did not use, besides the word harmony) is to some degree dissonant. Instead of dissonant, Leibniz used to term "contingent", meaning warped, blurry, misfitting pieces, imperfect, etc. But Leibniz was an optimist. So to correct for this at least hopefully, there is a duality in Leibniz, discussed in his "Theodicy". The physical world has a number of flaws, but God, being Good, did the best he could in creating it, so we have, to use the familiar phrase that Voltaire brilliantly but ignorantly mocked in Candide, "the best possioble world". I sometimes think of the perfect harmony as energy and the out-of-tuneness as entropy. Or in a theological vein, we have a just God leading us as well as possible through this world of sometimes sickness and sorrow. Note that God is the author of the sorrows. Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net 11/9/2012 "Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen ----- Receiving the following content ----- From: Platonist Guitar Cowboy Receiver: everything-list Time: 2012-11-08, 07:41:46 Subject: Re: Leibniz's pre-composed harmonic orchestral performance Hi Roger, Harmony is also, as part of several music theory traditions, the management of dissonance, without which you can't have "harmony". Did Leibniz treat "dissonance" specifically or suggest say, that well placed dissonance leads to a more satisfying harmony of the piece as a whole? 12-Tone music is composer's version of Quantum Physics. Although it may not be "pleasing sleeping pill" for some, we can't really ignore it. I bet your favorite film employs it in "shock moments", where it fits every time. PGC On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Roger Clough wrote: Hi Russell Standish Yes, the orchestra with the supreme monad as composer/conductor playing a pleasing orchestra composition (not 12-tone !) that he dug up out of his a priori files works fine. I think Leibniz's "harmony" is the traditional one: har?o?y [hahr-muh-nee] noun, plural har?o?ies. 1. agreement; accord; harmonious relations. 2. a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity. 3. Music. a. any simultaneous combination of tones. b. the simultaneous combination of tones, especially when blended into chords pleasing to the ear; chordal structure, as distinguished from melody and rhythm. c. the science of the structure, relations, and practical combination of chords. 4. an arrangement of the contents of the Gospels, either of all four or of the first three, designed to show their parallelism, mutual relations, and differences. Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net 11/8/2012 "Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen ----- Receiving the following content ----- From: Russell Standish Receiver: everything-list Time: 2012-11-07, 17:16:48 Subject: Re: Re: Re: Detecting Causality in Complex Ecosystems I was reacting to the last sentence "Their motions instead occur according to a pre-established (a priori) harmony." Not knowing specifically what you mean by "harmony", I assumed it meant that the universe was being orchestrated by a supreme "conductor". Whilst this view might be tenable in a classical Newtonian universe, it it not in a quantum one. And with deference to Bruno, not in a COMP one either - I think we were simply talking past each other. But then, maybe you mean something different by "harmony" - physical law perhaps? These are usually in the form of symmetry constraints. If that is what you meant, then I can see why you say it is acausal. On Wed, Nov 07, 2012 at 09:24:32AM -0500, Roger Clough wrote: > Hi Russell Standish > > Both Leibniz and quantum physics are acausal, > meaning, at least in Leibniz's world, that things > are what they are, they happen as they happen, > whether this be deterministic or probabilistic, > or even eschatollogically caused. > > The only constraint Leibniz placed on such actions > is that they be "harmonious", meaning to me, at least > that whatever happens is harmonious with its > environment. Otherwise, it could not happen. > > I don't know (nor do I suspect that Leibniz knew) > how one could calculate such a universe in > perfect harmony in advance, but there's no need > for that. It is simply an assumption, and looking > out on the universe, I see no disharmony-- it > all works just fine. > > > Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net > 11/7/2012 > "Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen > > > ----- Receiving the following content ----- > From: Russell Standish > Receiver: everything-list > Time: 2012-11-06, 15:34:30 > Subject: Re: Re: Detecting Causality in Complex Ecosystems > > > On Tue, Nov 06, 2012 at 04:54:00AM -0500, Roger Clough wrote: > > Hi Russell Standish > > > > According to Leibniz's idealistic metaphysics, nothing is causal, > > things just appear to happen by cause. Their motions instead > > occur according to a pre-established (a priori) harmony. > > > > > > This is not compatible with quantum physics, so I don't think so. > > -- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders > Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au > University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > 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. > > -- > 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. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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