Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour Rocco Gangle - Leibniz's Monadology
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Oct 12, 2025 Rocco Gangle, a Professor of Philosophy at Endicott College and expert in semiotics and metaphysics, dives into Leibniz's Monadology. He explores the nature of monads, emphasizing their inward qualities devoid of external interaction. Rocco explains Leibniz's concept of pre-established harmony and debates divine freedom alongside moral optimism. He intriguingly connects Leibniz's ideas to contemporary thoughts, including Wolfram's Ruliad and Deleuze's philosophical inquiries, while also discussing the implications of monads for political structures.
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Personal Path Into Leibniz
- Rocco discovered Leibniz through reading Spinoza and felt Spinoza's ghost in Leibniz's text.
- He suggests Leibniz met Spinoza and that encounter profoundly shaped Leibniz's thought.
Parallel Orders Versus One Substance
- Leibniz offers two parallel orders: mental and physical run independently yet cohere by divine coordination.
- This contrasts with Spinoza's single order under multiple attributes.
Freedom Versus Divine Necessity
- Leibniz struggles to reconcile divine necessity with God’s freedom in choosing the best world.
- If God's nature necessitates the best choice, room for genuine divine freedom becomes questionable.
