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concept1680s

Complete Concept Theory of Substance

Disciplines:
metaphysics

Summary

Leibniz's doctrine that each individual substance has a complete concept — a concept that includes all predicates that are or will be true of that individual — which distinguishes substances from mere aggregates and grounds the principle of the identity of indiscernibles.

Core Contribution

Each substance is defined by its complete concept; all truths about a substance are analytic (the predicate is contained in the complete concept); God creates the best possible world by selecting the best collection of compossible complete concepts.

Historical Influences

Gottfried Leibniz

Intellectual Lineage

No conceptual lineage found.

Allied Works

Monadology Discourse on Metaphysics Theodicy

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

No recorded minds influenced.

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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