  It is after this fashion that nature should be understood. Consider an apparently inert object such as a piece of rock. This is not an aggregate of material atoms, but a society of active subjects. Starting out from a state of mutual isolation, Ward speculates, a plurality of monads might end up finding a satisfactory modus vivendi. These monads might then continue to stick together—either because they are unwilling to break out of the social structures in which they are embedded, or because they have become unable to do so. To clarify this concept, Ward appeals to an ingenious simile: