Definition of Preset Harmony

Pre-established harmony is a central concept in the corpus theoretician of the philosopher Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), considered one of the main thinkers of the modern age, although he came from a training on the tradition scholasticism. Leibniz introduced important developments in the field of metaphysicsas well as in mathematics and geometry. His metaphysical investigations reconcile, in a certain sense, the cartesian dualism with the ontological monism Spinozian, under the figure of the monads, as individual substances.

There is a hierarchy among the monads that make up the universe, such that the one with the highest hierarchy, that is, the only necessary monad, is God, while all the others are contingent. In God lies the principle of pure power, that is, in God all things exist in a potential way and become act by divine will. The transition from power to act depends on the divine will, which is supreme goodness; therefore, nothing happens without reason (what is called the "principle of sufficient reason") and, in turn, the entire future of the world produces according to the principle of the best, since God always actualizes —as we have defined— the best of all worlds possible.

God and order

According to this conceptual framework, the universe is harmonious because each of its parts, which potentially exist in God, become an act by virtue of the principle of sufficient reason. That is to say, everything that exists, exists for a reason, which responds to the framework of the world preordained by the divinity. Thus, the principle of sufficient reason is closely linked to the notion of pre-established harmony.

At the same time, the ordering of the world has a mechanical and geometric character, in such a way that the universe is articulated according to invariable laws. As a consequence, the pre-established nature of said universal harmony implies a determination of the destiny of all the events that will take place. Every event is, then, predetermined.

The problem of human freedom

The fact that all events, by virtue of pre-established harmony, are already ordained by God, makes destiny invariably determined. This leads to two consequences: on the one hand, the place of evil in the world is always explained by a highest cause, that is, evil occurs by virtue of a harmony that only the divine can know; in such a way that it has a reason for being, although from the perspective human is not understandable. On the other hand, there is a problem freedom human, in terms of the extent to which man is capable of making voluntary decisions in the context of a preordained world.

The Leibnizian wager, in this sense, consists of reconciling freedom and determination. Although all events are determined by necessity, even so, the freedom of man is necessary for these events to be triggered. The substance divine includes all individual substances, in a total way, and is determined by its own causes. In turn, the individual substances make up that harmonic universal substance.

The determination of each individual substance, that is, of each monad, is essential and comes from within; in other words, the changes that the monad goes through already brings them with it and they unfold progressively.

Leibniz locates the need in the area of ​​total harmony, but not in the fluctuation between states that a monad goes through, which are contingent. The human body and mind, as individual monads, follow their own laws and, all of them together, reflect this greater harmony. Then, the human will receives a certain inclination, but it is not determined in act, that is, the events do not become necessary, in spite of it. Man unfolds his being in a contingent way, although his freedom is not absolute, as it is divine freedom.

Bibliography

Garcia Alcala, F. (2018). Leibniz and the compatibility between determinism and freedom.