In propositions one through fifteen of part one, spinoza presents the basic elements of his picture of god. Spinoza inherited from descartes the predilection for the math ematical method, the definitions of soul and matter as respect ively thinking and extended substance, the criterion of truth and. This is now known as cartesian dualism, which has its roots in the early theologies we looked at, where, for example, the soul is seen as separate to the body. Platonic form, and spinoza s substance is not actually extended. In other words, substance is neither space nor something that takes up space. God has infinite attributes, and the two we know of are thought and extension. Unlike descartes, he doesnt think that its extension, because all bodies are. This chapter seeks to establish 1 that spinoza accepts the legitimacy of many teleological explanations. Ethics spinozapart 1 wikisource, the free online library. Like descartes, spinoza believes that the only attributes that we have any comprehension of are thought and extension. The constraints spinoza imposes in order to preserve mental irreducibility and to make human beings partial expressions of one thinking and extended substance produce a tension between mental autonomy and mindbody identity. I argue that when spinoza describes substance and its attributes as infinite, he means that they are. Spinoza on mind, body, and numerical identity final.
This is hegels misunderstanding of spinoza s substance. Jan 24, 2018 extended substance, in so far as it is substance, consists, as they think, in parts, wherefore they deny that it can be infinite, or consequently, that it can appertain to god. To appreciate why spinoza might be attracted to such an account, lets briefly consider. Spinozas understanding of substance substantia in the first part of this essay. In his 1969 book, spinoza s metaphysics, edwin curley argues that considerations of interpretive charity should make us avoid ascribing to spinoza this strongly counterintuitive view according to which spinoza understands mode in the traditional sense of the word, and thus holds that all things are qualities of god. Spinoza defines the term attribute in definition 4 of part one of the ethics thus. Spinozism also spelled spinozaism is the monist philosophical system of baruch spinoza that defines god as a singular selfsubsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such in a letter to henry oldenburg, spinoza wrote.
According to that interpretation, the extended substance is a quasi. Spinoza was a pantheist in the sense that the oneandall is god and god is the oneandall. Every everything else which can be attributed to a substance is a mode of that substance. A substance s primary attribute tells us the basic kind of thing it is. God is the substance comprising the universe, with god existing in itself, not somehow outside of the universe. Second, melamed argues that spinoza accepts a dualism of thought and being, according to which the realm of thought parallels the rest of being in a way that no other attribute does. Teleology in spinoza and early modern rationalism oxford. God wills the existence of these two substances and therefore these substances depend on god for their existence. Spinoza s metaphysics has already broadened our philosophical imagination by forcing us to engage with views that at first seemed absurd but on closer examination proved credible. This they illustrate with many examples, of which i will take one or two. Substance, attributes, and modes are terms that have a very long. Spinoza, however, insists that sharing the same essence is sufficient for identity. Pdf ethics book by baruch spinoza free download 186 pages baruch spinoza was a 17th century jewishdutch philosopher who developed a novel way to think about the relationship between god, nature, and ethics. Panpsychism and substance monism are recent examples see, e.
Spinoza spinoza, thoemmes about the author baruch spinoza 16321677 was born in amster. See especially his wonderful, clear, and helpful book, spinoza routledge, 2008. Spinozas philosophy, this book will interest students and scholars of modern. What advantages does spinozas substance monism have over. In these terms, a finite body is a mode of substance understood under the attribute of extension. By laying the groundwork for the 18th century enlightenment 2 and modern biblical criticism, 3 including modern conceptions of the self and, arguably. Leibniz, always an astute r eader of spinoza, notes an obscur ity in spinoza s definition of substance. The infinite and the indeterminate in spinoza dialogue. Spinoza is concerned with the nature of existence or being. The spatial or extended attributes of substance likewise do not allow parts or division. Continental rationalism stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Gueroults claim that in the first eight propositions of book one of the. Spinozas intention in part i of the ethics has two aspects.
Particular things that occupy space are what is meant by extended. God is the only substance and is eternal, infinite and perfect. Extended substance, in so far as it is substance, consists, as they think, in parts, wherefore they deny that it can be infinite, or consequently, that it can appertain to god. Spinoza on mind, body, and numerical identity final columbia. By this time, spinoza creates the idea that god, as both thinking and extended substance, is such that all nature is both thinking and extended since everything that is must be part of god. This way of conceiving extended substance obviously diverges heavily from common conceptions of space. Spinoza writes that god, corporeal substance, or nature is an extended thing, he does not mean that this substance is extended in length, breadth and depth. This book is truly exciting, not only as a work of historical scholarship but also as a genuine work of philosophy that brings to the fore another kind of spinozism that has barely been studied thus far. A substance cant be produced by anything else by the corollary to 6, so it must be its own cause. Nietzsches critique of substance ontology when applied to spinoza s concept of substance.
Spinoza begins book i of the ethics by defining several terms he intends to use in his. Nov 21, 2007 most radically, spinoza replaced descartess substance pluralism with a monistic account modelled on cartesian extended substance. During his lifetime spinoza published one book under his name the. Benedict spinoza studies in comparative philosophy. The relation of spinozas concept of substance to the concept of. Ethics spinoza makes reference to substances that consist of, or are con stituted by, a single attributesuch as thought, or extension. He is considered one of the great rationalists of 17thcentury philosophy and, by virtue of his magnum opus the ethics, one of the definitive. Especially important is descartess view of the relation of extended substance both to its modes and to the parts that compose it. Human beings are determined by baruch spinoza as the ethics,1 a book published posthumously from the fear of persecu. God, it is said, inasmuch as he is a supremely perfect being, cannot be passive. The concept of substance is thus of long philosophical descent and is central in. Oxford scholarship online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service.
My examination of spinoza s arguments for the infinity of extended substance physical space lead to a comparison of his views with the antikantian arguments offered by moritz schlick, and finally to some general remarks concerning spinoza s concept of infinite magnitude, and its limitations from a contemporary perspective. Sreekumar nellickappilly,department of humanities and social sciences,iit madras. Substance, attributes, and spinoza s monistic pluralism t v 7 when i said that god is the cause of the idea, say of a circle, only insofar as he is a thinking thing, and the cause of the circle, only insofar as he is an extended thing, this was for no other reason than because the formal being of the idea of the circle can be perceived only. In nature, there cannot be two or more substances of the same nature or attribute. For the identity of the thinking thing and extended substance in spinoza, see e2p7s. One of the early thinkers of the enlightenment and.
Hegels interpretation of spinozas concept of substance. Spinoza says god, or substance, consisting of infinite attributes, of which each. This essay argues that the burden of defending such an interpretation is very great indeed, and requires. It follows from this that if substance and god are identical, in spinoza s view, and contrary to the traditional conception, god has extension as one of his attributes. Finally, there is a consideration of what these developments in su rez and descartes have to teach us about spinoza s monistic conception of the material world. Mar 10, 2021 spinoza was born into a community of portuguese jews in amsterdam who had fled the inquisition. That which is the most concrete for spinoza, as one will see later, became for hegel an ether, that is, an invisible substance, colorless, allpervading in which the particulars are obliterated, immersed, absorbed and lost. Pdf on jan 1, 2011, dr peter jp critchley published spinoza and the. Substance consists of infinite attributes, each of which expresses in its way the essence of god. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter. Just as, in some places, descartes treats bodies as mere modes of a single extended substance, so, for spinoza, all individualsboth bodies and mindsare modes of a single substance. It follows, therefore, that extended substance does not appertain to the essence of god. Consequently, thinking substance and extended substance are one and the s. To spinoza, the human body exists by way of gods attribute of extension.
As long as his father was still alive his mother died when he was six years old. Dec 23, 2020 attribute of extended substance such as the. Spinoza was jewish and retained some belief in a god although considered. In one of its forms, it stands as an alternative to the moribund aristotelian ontology. As alison peterman argues, when spinoza refers to the extension of substance, this is not the type of extension possessed by threedimensional objects. In contemporary, everyday language, the word substance tends to be a generic term used to refer to various kinds of material stuff we need to clean this sticky substance off the floor or as an adjective referring to somethings mass, size, or importance that is a substantial bookcase. Thus, according to spinoza, the mind and the body are identical because they share the same essence, even though the mind only thinks and the body only moves. Spinoza on substance spinoza s definition of attribute. What are the basic constituents of reality, and how do other less basic things depend on them. The cosmic substance is an extended and thinking thing. Jacobi claimed that spinoza s doctrine was pure materialism, because all nature and god are said to be nothing but extended substance. Spinozas theory of attributes stanford encyclopedia of. By attribute i mean that which the intellect perceives of substance as constituting its essence d. Spinoza, whose telling book title is ethics demonstrated in a geometrical manner, is the second rational.
Human beings are determined by baruch spinoza as the ethics,1 a book published. To spinoza there is only one substance, god, and this he accepted in agreement with one of the aspects of the philosophy of descartes. Spinozas mechanism, attributes, and panpsychism harry a. All the changes which have since come over the idea of substance are reduced, on a logical analysis, to this supreme thought of spinoza s. Spinoza writes that god, corporeal substance, or nature is an extended thing, he does. He developed the cartesian theory of substance into a fullfledged system of symmetry and perfection. Spinoza, gueroult, and substance wiley online library. Spinoza is undoubtedly one of the greatest rationalist philosophers of the west. In contemporary, everyday language, the word substance tends to be a generic term used to refer to various kinds of material stuff we need to clean this sticky substance off the floor or as an adjective referring to somethings mass, size. The first part of the ethics sets about defining and elucidating the fundamental. This, for jacobi, was the result of enlightenment rationalism and it would finally end in absolute atheism. Spinoza inherited from descartes the predilection for the math ematical method, the definitions of soul and matter as respect ively thinking and extended substance. However, i propose that while this remains a serious philosophical.
Spinozas theory of attributes stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. If extended substance, they say, is infinite, let it be. First, he argues that at the root of spinoza s metaphysics is the traditional dualism of substance and mode. Spinoza on god, affects, and the nature of sorrow florida. For descartes and spinoza, as i will show, such essences and their ideas are necessarily involved and expressed 1 early modern philosophy is an interval in the history of philosophy at the beginning of the period. Pdf substance, attributes, and spinozas monistic pluralism. In some translations, the scholia are referred to as notes. The second argument is also drawn from gods supreme perfection.
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