Metaphysical Harmony

Chris Meyns (Utrecht University), Chris Meyns

Abstract:

The concept of harmony has its roots in musical theory, indicating a state in which simultaneously sounding tones produce a pleasing effect. But considerations about harmony reach well beyond music. In this paper I consider how, in the seventeenth century, harmony lingers in the domain of metaphysics to describe a condition of what I will call metaphysical harmony—that is, harmony with respect to what exists, or how it exists. My aim in this paper is to clarify what, for early modern authors, it is for something to be in a condition of metaphysical harmony. Focusing on Mersenne’s Treatise of Universal Harmony (1625), as well as works by Cavendish and Leibniz, I will argue that for many of these authors, the notion of harmony functions as a cluster concept. It signals a basic relational state between two or more items, of which the relevant characteristics (such equilibrium, balance, correspondence, similarity, or joint function) can shift depending on the discussion. This shows that within early modern metaphysics, the notion of harmony retains only some of the traits of that original musical category.