Leibniz and the Baroque Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leibniz and the Baroque - Essay Example Deleuze finds the existence of soul in body; however, since there is no way for the exiting of the same, he justifies the statements made by his predecessor philosophers’ opinions regarding the place of the soul in upper dark chamber of the body, diversified by folds, i.e. the mind. Deleuze also cites Focillon, where he submits to state that the latter viewed Baroque Gothic as the birth of the mystical experience, which is actually the long voyage of the soul within various parts of the vast and endless universe. Hence, body remains confined to one specific zone or area, where it is actually present, while soul seeks no limits and boundaries for travelling and can reach everywhere it wants to move. On the contrary, body remains silent to some extent, and requires permissions and efforts in order to change its place. Deleuze declares Leibniz as the first philosopher to define and elucidate the mystical and mathematical dimensions in his work. He also states that the world is ma de up of monads and divergent series, which can be compared to the folds. Consequently, it can be examined by keeping in view the infinity of pleats and creases of unified and dispersed matter. Deleuze has also discussed plastic forces in an analytical manner by presenting the examples of organism or living matter, where artificial is always inferior to the real one. It is because of the very fact that plastic cannot perform altogether in such a way as the living matter, though it is more machinelike than mechanical. (Deleuze, 8) He further explains Leibniz’s folding and unfolding theory, which defines the organism’s ability to fold and unfold its parts to a degree of assignment or the scale of capacity attributed to each and every species at large. Hume’s Views on Religion Norton (1993) has critically evaluated Hume’s views on faith and religion in his works. Hume has provided his in-depth views on God, morality, natural belief and others in his Natural History of Religion (1757). He appears to be criticizing the blind imitation of the religious systems, and seeks for the philosophical interpretation of the Scriptures and belief system, so that religious dogmatism could be revealed in its true sense. His severe disparagement of conventional religious practices not only invited the wrath of the Catholic Church, but also caused controversial debate about his actual opinion on following the real Christian teachings. Consequently, he was blamed to be an atheist as well as the rebel of Christian faith. It is therefore Norton finds