Spinoza Appendix 1 Study Q's Flashcards
What does Spinoza list as God’s nature and properties?
- He necessarily exists
- He is one alone
- He is and acts solely from the necessity of his own nature
- He is the free cause of all things
- All things are in God and are so dependent on him that they can neither be nor be conceived without him
- All things have predetermined by God
Spinoza notes that all things are predetermined by God NOT by his free will, but rather by his “absolute nature.” What is the difference?
God can’t help but to do these things. He does not choose to do so. It is in his nature.
What is the major prejudice Spinoza sees in common men?
All things in nature are like themselves in acting with an end in view
Why do men think of themselves as free?
Because they are conscious of their volitions and desires
Why do common men think nature works for some “end” or purpose?
Since they find within themselves and outside themselves a considerable number of means very convenient for the pursuit of their advantage, the result is that they look on all the things of nature as means to their own advantage. They come to believe that there is someone else who produced these means for their use.
What does this belief about nature imply about God?
God directed everything for man’s use so that they may bind men to them and be held in the highest honor by them
What does Spinoza mean when he says: “But while they sought to show that nature does nothing in vain (i.e., nothing which is not of use to men), they seem to have shown only that nature and the Gods are as crazy as mankind.”
Men basically thought that the world revolved around them and that God could change the whole of nature for them. This view on God makes God seem like he is just as crazy as mankind.
Why does Spinoza say that mathematics “saved” humanity from total ignorance?
Because mathematics, which is concerned not with ends but only with the essences and properties of figures, revealed a different standard of truth.
What does Spinoza mean when he says: “…this doctrine of Final Causes turns nature completely upside down, for it regards as an effect that which is in fact a cause, and vice versa. Again it makes that which is by nature first to be last; and finally, that which is highest and most perfect is held to be the most imperfect.”
Basically, a final cause is not real. It is a fiction made up by humans. Believing in this final cause (or goal) makes the whole view on nature wrong.
What does Spinoza say about how religious authorities treat educated people (who try to find the true causes of “miracles”)? Why?
Educated people are denounced by religious authorities because the educated people could dispill the ignorance
What is the point of the “stone falling off of a roof” example? Why does
Spinoza here calls God, “the sanctuary of ignorance?”
The point of the “stone falling off of a roof” example is to show that the stone did not have an intent to hurt or kill the man. The stone fell off the roof as a result of prior effects. Spinoza calls God “the sanctuary of ignorance” because they will continue asking about the causes of things until one takes refuge in the will of God.
What does Spinoza think of the idea of “order,” “disorder,” “good,” “evil,” “beauty,” and “ugly” as applied to nature?
These notions to explain the nature of things were made because man is convinced that everything is created on their behalf. The nature of things is described according to its effect on man.
What does Spinoza say is the cause of Skepticism? Is HE not a Skeptic?
The cause of Skepticism is that there are so many differences in humans. “So many heads, so many opinions.” Spinoza is not a skeptic.
What is Spinoza’s response to the objection that, “if everything has followed from the necessity of God’s most perfect nature, why does nature display so many imperfections?”
The perfection of things should be measured solely from their own nature and power. Things are not more or less perfect to the extent that they please or offend human senses, serve or oppose human interests.
