The ontological essence of a monad is its irreducible simplicity. Unlike atoms, monads possess no material or spatial character. They also differ from atoms by their complete mutual independence, so that interactions among monads are only apparent. Instead, by virtue of the principle of pre-established harmony, each monad follows a pre-programmed set of "instructions" peculiar to itself, so that a monad "knows" what to do at each moment. By virtue of these intrinsic instructions, each monad is like a little mirror of the universe. Monads need not be "small"; e.g., each human being constitutes a monad, in which case free will is problematic.
the ontological essence of a monad is its irreducible simplicity unlike atoms monads possess no material or spatial character they also differ from atoms by their complete mutual independence so that interactions among monads are only apparent instead by virtue of the principle of pre-established harmony each monad follows a pre-programmed set of "instructions" peculiar to itself so that a monad "knows" what to do at each moment by virtue of these intrinsic instructions each monad is like a little mirror of the universe monads need not be "small"; eg each human being constitutes a monad in which case free will is problematic