THE LEIBNIZIAN SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF THE RELATIONSHIP BODY-SOUL FROM A CURRENT PERSPECTIVE

The mind-body problem of today differs from that of the 17th century, as it is not so much discussed as an ontological one, but as a question of the empirical sciences-at best of epistemology. It goes back to Descartes, and found its Leibnizian solution by the pre-established harmony between Monads as substances, and their bodies as phenomena-namely, corporeal substances-warranted 'top down' by God's selection of the world. This needs presumptions that are analysed here, in order to indicate that modern proposals for a solution via complex evolutionary processes depend on a way that is 'bottom up', yet by introducing comparable conjectures.