  Although there was much disagreement over details, early modern  atomists generally affirmed that complex bodies are to be understood  as being composed of naturally indivisible material atoms moving  about in an independently existing space. Such atoms were commonly  held to lack all but a few basic properties such as size, shape, and  possibly weight. While Leibniz himself was attracted to such a  conception of body in his early years, he eventually came to see  atomism as deeply antithetical to his general understanding of the  natural world. Not surprisingly then, many of Leibniz’s arguments  against atomism attempt to show how common atomist commitments  conflict with central principles of his mature natural   philosophy.[11] 