Spinoza Slides notes Flashcards
Spinoza is a believer of what type of ideas?
a priori ideas
What century was Spinoza alive in?
17th century
Spinoza was from what community?
Sephardic jewish community
What did Spinoza flee? Where did he flee to and from?
He fled the Catholic inquisition in Portugal to Amsterdam
is Spinoza an empiricist or rationalist? What view?
rationalist with a mechanistic view
Deus Sive Natura
god or (in other words) nature
Rejection of free will
He knows we make choices but they are not free (cause and effect)
Monism
everything is one thing
Pantheism
God is nature. Nature is god. God isn’t separate from us because he is infinite.
what happened to him in relation to the Jewish community?
He was excommunicated from the Jewish community
Geometrical method parts
- Definitions
- Axioms
- Propositions
- (demonstrations)
Definitions
Starts with giving the basic definition of everything
Axiom
relates two or more terms together
Propositions
make statements ab the world
Demonstrations
Proof of the propositions being true
Proof for God’s Existence
Definition 1: “self-caused”
- Causa Sui
- Essence involves existence
- Can only be conceived as existing
Proof for God’s Existence
Definition 3: “Substance”
- in itself and conceived through itself
- exists and is thought about in total independence
Bringing together “self-caused” and “substance”
you have to be self-caused to be a substance
Proof for God’s Existence
Definition 4: “Attribute”
The essence of a substance
(Essence: nature)
Proof for God’s Existence
Definition 5: “Mode”
- Modifications of a substance
- Is in (and is conceived) through something else
Proof for God’s Existence
Definition 6: “God”
- Absolutely infinite being
- Has infinite attributes
All things are either in _____ or in _____
- All things are either in themselves or in something else.
- Are either a “substance” or a “mode.”
Proof for God’s Existence
Axiom 3: The Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR)
From a cause, there is an effect. If there is no cause, there will be no effect.
The knowledge of an ____ depends on the knowledge of its _____.
effect; cause
Things that have nothing in common cannot be _______.
understood one through the other.
Things with different attributes can’t be understood through each other.
Two substance with different attributes have ________.
nothing in common.
Things with nothing in common can’t ____ one another.
Things with nothing in common can’t CAUSE one another.
There can’t be more than one substance with the same ______
There can’t be more than one substance with the same attribute.
Because then they would be the SAME substance.
Can one substance be produced by another? Why or why not?
No. One substance cannot be produced by another.
Because they would have to have the same attribute. Then they wouldn’t be different substances.
Existence belongs to _____.
Existence belongs to the nature of substance
Because it can’t be produced by anything else. So it is “self-caused.”
Every substance is _____.
infinite because it is “self-caused”
God (i.e., a substance with infinite attributes) necessarily exists.
Substance is self-caused. Thus, it must exist + be ABSOLUTELY infinite (i.e., God). There can’t just be modes.
Are there substances other than god?
No. There can be no other substance than God.
What is God?
- Infinite
- Eternal
- Unique
- NOT personal
Essential differences with Descartes: God
Descartes: God is an all-good creator; not a deceiver
Spinoza: God is the universe (pantheism); has no personality; “Deus sive Natura” (God or Nature)
Essential differences with Descartes: Substances
Descartes’ Dualism: 2 classes of Substances (res extensa & res cogitans)
Spinoza’s Monism: 1 Substance (God)
_____ and ____ are attributes of God
“thought” and “extension” are attributes of God.
Essential differences with Descartes: existence
Descartes: Matter is mechanistic, efficient causation. But the mind is free, teleological.
Spinoza: Nothing exists apart from Nature/ Natural Laws. Efficient (Mechanical) Causation governs all, Determinism, no Free Will, Humans are not a “state within a state”
Essential differences with Descartes: The interaction problem
Descartes: The Interaction Problem
- How does Mind interact with Matter?
Spinoza: No interaction Problem
- Modes affect modes.
- The whole universe (and each mode) can be viewed from the attribute of extension or the attribute of thought.
Parallelism
The order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things
Ex: a physical circle = the definition of a circle
The illusion of free will
- Impossible, since mechanical laws are universal
- We are aware of our desires, but not their causes.
The DELUSION of Nature’s “Purpose” (Teleology)
We assume everything works like our own mind.
- God(s); A divine plan
- GOAL is benefiting Man; Binding him to God
Problems with this “Teleological” Worldview:
“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 mad as men.” (E1 Appendix)
What did God’s miracles, “mysterious ways” support?
Support established authority
Heretics
Those that scientifically questioned things
What is the cure to the ignorance of God’s will?
Mathematics (esp. Geometry)
- Efficient causation, not teleology
Sadness
“Sadness” is a product of the imagination, not the mind/intellect.
We IMAGINE a world in which the misfortune didn’t occur.
But the INTELLECT understands it could not have been otherwise.
Monism, Determinism
The Infant example
Emotions are tied to comparisons, wants, desires. But Nature acts according to deterministic Laws
The conatus doctrine
“Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to preserve in its being.” (existential inertia)
Conatus + Self-awareness = ____
Egoism
We cannot be totally self-sufficient
We must rely on others because we are a mode
Reason
Tastes, imagination, feelings, etc. change from place to place.
But Reason is “common to all.” (E2P38)
The basis for UNIVERSAL SOLIDARITY.
A man that is strong in character _____
hates no one, is angry with no one, envies no one, is indignant with no one, scorns no one, and is not at all proud. For these and all things which relate to true life and Religion are easily proven…that Hate is to be conquered by returning Love, and that everyone who is led by reason desires for others also the good he wants for himself.
The defining thing (when it comes to power) is _____
reason
Intellectual love
Man’s love of God = God’s love of himself = God’s love of man
Solidarity
“that the Minds and Bodies of all would compose, as it were, one Mind and one Body; that all should strive together, as far as they can, to preserve their being; and that all, together, should seek for themselves the common advantage of all”
