Define Pre-established Harmony.

Pre-established harmony is a philosophical concept associated with both Leibnizian metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. Proposed by the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, this idea posits that there is a pre-existing, predetermined correspondence or harmony between the mental and physical realms, such that mental and physical events are synchronized without direct causal interaction.

Leibniz introduced this concept as a solution to the mind-body problem. He argued that each substance, whether mental or physical, follows its own set of laws, and there is a harmonious pre-established arrangement that aligns their activities. According to Leibniz, God, as the ultimate creator, established this harmony at the moment of creation, ensuring the parallel functioning of minds and bodies without one causing the other.

The pre-established harmony offers an alternative to interactionist dualism, which suggests that mind and body interact causally. Instead, in Leibniz's view, mental and physical phenomena unfold independently, with their coordination predetermined by the harmonious plan established by God. This concept allows for the unity of mind and body within a monadic framework, where each substance expresses the entire universe from its unique perspective, contributing to the overall harmony of the created world.