The Two Clocks Relation is a
hypothetical teleological instance used to support theories of
quintessential matter and natural harmony in the
Universe.
It is most frequently used to explicate
Gottfried Leibniz's theory of
monadic existence, a pseudo-
spiritualistic position that asserts that there is no difference between the
intellect and
matter, because everything that is perceived by people as
matter is in fact consistent of
spiritual quanta called "
monads" (and, during Leibniz's time, "
intellect" was considered by most to be purely
spiritual). Monads, Leibniz said, do not have any
physical properties, and do not interact with each other
dimensionally, and that people perceive
material interaction because the
monads that they consist of are
harmonized with the
monads of other materials so as to produce the understanding of interaction. The only way
Leibniz could maintain these
far-fetched claims was by legitimizing the
harmony of the
monads that make everything in the
Universe up. Nowadays,
Leibniz's method of doing so is explicated with the "Two Clocks Relation".
Leibniz's legitimization was very simple: He claimed that because all
existents in the Universe were produced immediately by
God that they are all
essentially identical expressions, and that they therefore all have precisely the same
properties. The only
differentiation in that which is perceived to be matter is how and when the
monads exist in relation to each other, i.e. whether a
cluster of
monads forms, by coincidence, a
person or a
stone.
Leibniz certified, however, that regardless of what those
monads form, they should maintain their
individuality forever, such that each
monad, regardless of its
state or
position, should change only in
concordance to every other
existent monad. This legitimization is characterized as a "Two Clocks Relation" because it is approximately
congruous to the observable
concordance of two
perfect timepieces that are set at the same
time; for as long as they remain
perfect (as the
monads are, as
nonreactive products of
God), they should forever be in
harmony, acting together without
aberration.
The only source for this article is Bertrand Russel's "The History of Western Philosophy."