De mónadas y sustantividades o Leibniz y Zubiri

Abstract

The risk of understanding authors incorrectly is proportional to their innovative nature. The context of reading and understanding innovative texts cannot be other than the traditional context previous to the innovation, in which the technical language of the discipline was coined. This language is also used by the innovator, filling the old words with new meanings. Consequently, the most natural way to understand innovative texts is to interpret them in the framework of the traditional received categories, losing all of their originality. This is apparent in the case of Zubiri’s philosophy, which has been frequently interpreted according to the categories common to the rationalistic tradition of Western philosophy. This article attempts to clarify this point, comparing the pure reason of Leibniz with the sentient or impure intelligence of Zubiri. These are two different ways of understanding thought and reality and, therefore, philosophy.