MÚLTIPLOS QUE CONSTITUEM A UNIDADE: OS CONCEITOS LEIBNIZIANOS DE SUBSTÂNCIA - DA NOÇÃO COMPLETA À MÔNADA EXPRESSIVA

Leibniz proposed more than one concept in order to philo-sophically describe the substance. An instructive irony, this plurality of theories, whose end is an unified explanation of reality, culminated in a definition of the fundamental components of the world – the monads – as units that embrace multiplicity. These substances, as well as their essential function of mutually expressing themselves, only become fully intelligible when we observe Leibniz’s earlier concepts, of which his mature philos-ophy inherited some intuitions. Guided by the key works of the German philosopher and scientist, we will seek to redraw this intellectual path, in order not to outline a hypothetical system of him, but to unify the treat-ment he granted to the issue of unity. Such a reading hypothesis funda-mentally agrees with the one sustained by Michel Fichant, but brings spe-cific additions or discords, which are going to be indicated in this article