Sympathy, Sensible Qualities and Pleasure in Leibniz

Abstract

Discussing the concept of sympathy in Leibniz presents challenges due to its limited exploration in existing studies and its infrequent occurrence in the philosopher’s writings. Nonetheless, scholars who have paid attention to this concept have related it to essential aspects of Leibniz’s cosmological, psychological, and ethical view, associating it with ideas of harmony, love, and his theory of la place d’autruy. In this paper, I aim to analyze a particular instance of the term ‘sympathy’ in a text known in the Anglo-American debate as On Wisdom, where Leibniz uses this concept in relation to his idea of pleasure as a feeling of perfection. Considering the notion of pleasure and sympathy in this text, I will show how Leibniz’s account of pleasure involves, in the perceiving subject, an immanent feeling of itself, by means of a relation to the perfection of the subject and the perfection of what is perceived by it. Then I will emphasize some important consequences of this conception of pleasure regarding Leibniz’s psychology. This thesis will be argued by comparing the idea of sympathy expressed in On Wisdom with the relation between the sensible qualities and occult qualities mentioned in Lettre touchant ce qui est independant des Sens et de la Matiere.

Keywords: Sympathy, Sensible Qualities, Pleasure, Occult Qualities, Consciousness