What I learned reading “Monadology.”

“ Monadology” was written by Leibniz. Below, what I learned by reading this text.

1. The “monad” has no parts.
2. It is simple, and enters into the composition of other substances.
3. If there is not something that can not be divided, it is not possible to explain the multiplicity of compound things.
4. There must be something that can not be divided.
5. Being simple, the spiritual units were not formed: or they always existed or “appeared.”
6. In this case, they have miraculously appeared and also miraculously disappear.
7. The famous statement that spiritual units “have no windows” must be understood in the sense that nothing enters or leaves the monad, being simple.
8. If it is simple, it is totally compact in itself: it does not receive an addition and it can not be subtracted.
9. The problem with the atom of Democritus is that it does not explain the qualitative differences between beings and substances, since Democritus conceptualized atoms as different only in format.
10. Although the monad can not be destroyed but miraculously, it is subject to becoming.
11. Monads change because of an inner quality: if they can not receive addition or subtraction, the monad changes alone, without an external agent.
12. Mechanism, the idea that natural phenomena can be explained by analogy to products of human artifice does not explain perception.
13. There are unconscious perceptions: if we only perceive, for example, sounds while conscious, how can the noise wake us from sleep?
14. The monad does not correspond to the soul.
15. To arouse prudence (“attainment” in Leibniz), several impressions are not necessary: ​​a traumatic experience, even one, can produce the same effect as several small bad experiences.
16. What differs from other animals is the ability to do science, not simply reason.
17. Classically, “soul” is the principle of movement, whereas “spirit” is only the rational part of the soul.
18. There are two kinds of truth: reason (a priori, “every bachelor is an unmarried one”) and those in fact (a posteriori, “something happened in such and such a way”).
19. The truths of reason are necessary and can not be otherwise, the truths of fact are contingent and can be otherwise.
20. There are truths that do not need proof.
21. God exists.
22. We see that the material world is contingent, that is, subject to generation and corruption.
23. The world can only have its origin in a necessary being, something that must exist and that always existed.
24. God has perfect understanding, so He can only make good choices.
25. Spiritual things follow formal and final causes.
26. Physical things follow material and efficient causes.
27. Enduring the bad consequences of sin are, in themselves, a form of repentance: suffering is the best way to learn your lesson.
28. There is no action without consequences.