The Monadological Heritage in Husserl and Whitehead

Leibnizian notions are first recalled in order to show their diverse elaboration in an ontological concept of monadology by Whitehead and in a transcendental concept by Husserl. With regard to this contrast, the article analyzes in Sect. 1 the nature of monads with reference to their windowlessness, perspectivization, inner force, and immortality. In Sect. 2, the differentiation of monads following Leibniz’s distinction between bare monads, animal souls, and rational spirits is described. Both Whitehead and Husserl advance views on the articulation of the monadic world. Section 3 examines the transition from confused perception at the lower level of the monadic structure to distinct perception in the higher ones. In Sect. 4, attention is given to the harmony of the community within the best of possible worlds. This entails an examination of the role of God in view of the ultimate ethical goals of the teleological development. Finally, in Sect. 5, an attempt is made to show how notions of Whitehead’s metaphysics are helpful to clarify, in the domain of a constructive phenomenology, borderline problems posed by Husserl’s phenomenology and related to coherence of experience and teleological development.