Quantum Monadology: Glimmers of a Metaphysics of Universal Harmony
Rossella Lupacchini
Diogenes March 13, 2025 DOI: 10.1017/s0392192124000221 (opens in new tab)
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AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that quantum mechanics' paradoxical features—wave-particle dualism, incompatible quantities, and complementarity—undermine traditional metaphysical notions of substance and cause and reveal a relational, dialectical character to measuring and knowing. Proposes that 'quantum monadology' revives Leibniz's and Nicholas of Cusa's monads, echoes Nishida's 'dialectical monadology', and orients toward a metaphysics of universal harmony or indeterminacy. |
Abstract
Despite its extraordinary predictive power, quantum mechanics has been hailed as a paradoxical, self-contradictory theory of nature. How does it question the intelligibility of physical worldview? The wave-particle dualism, the incompatibility of physical quantities, the complementarity between the space-time description and the causal description of phenomena question key-notions of the traditional metaphysics, such as substance and cause, but they also call attention to the vital dialectical contrast between the continuous and the discrete, the infinite and the finite, consciousness and matter, and to the essential relational character of measuring, seeing, and knowing. Does quantum physics also question the Western way of thinking? The aim of this article is to show how quantum monadology not only breathes new life into Leibniz’s and Nicholas of Cusa’s monads, but also echoes Nishida’s ‘dialectical monadology’ and orients our gaze towards a metaphysics of universal harmony, i.e., a metaphysics of the dialectical universal or a metaphysics of indeterminacy.