What must be factual for anything to be factual, what must exist for anything to be in existence? For Spinoza, before you can fully comprehend Ethics you have to be familiar with metaphysics. Metaphysic concerns itself with the fundamental principles that characterize all; metaphysic is the ground from which everything comes from. This is the rationale for why he initiates Ethics with God and nature as an entirety before he ever begins to converse on the human mind. Spinoza was anti-religious in his stance; he did not articulate of a God on a theological or religious aspect but as a metaphysic aspect on the nature of reality. Spinoza concurs with the religious conception that there is in reality an intimate relationship between man and God but not by the Christian notion on the relationship, his ideas on this connection is very diverse from those views of Christians. Spinoza believed nature to be one and god to be one. This is to pronounce that the mind and body are equally truthful and human nature is actually one in itself. This consideration demonstrates that man is united to God in Spinoza’s observation. Spinoza uses the geometrical method to help those understand God and human nature, he knew one would have to follow the natural order of entities because before one can fully comprehend human nature, they have to be aware of the basic truth of the nature of reality as a whole.
To truly understand God and the order of nature you must first establish an understanding of the universal laws of nature, Spinoza use of the geometrical method helps do just that. The geometrical method is very logically and is used to recognize the basic truths of nature from the start and the laws that govern thought and extension, this being all th...
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...ruly desires is one free. The power of God itself which is in all of us in some sense a lesser or greater degree. This is also to say that existence just doesn’t happen to exist, it necessary because it is infinite and eternal. Existence is what has to exist for anything to exist, so if anything exists than is in fact God who exists.
With the use of the geometrical method, Spinoza is able to identify and make the conception of God intelligible to one. Giving one the ability to understand God and the human nature so that one can fully understand Ethics by this method. Since one cannot fully comprehend human nature until they are aware of the basic truth of the nature of reality. For the human mind to have the basic substance to understand oneself including nature and God, by thought and extension, showing that every mind is in fact capable of understanding God.
“Religion Gives Meaning to Life” outlines how life is given meaning through theistic religion in Louis Pojman’s opinion. In this short reading, autonomy is described as in the meaning of freedom or self-governing and argues how it is necessary for ideal existence. By being honest and faithful with ourselves shows how we can increase our autonomy. “I think most of us would be willing to give up a few autonotoms for an enormous increase in happiness” (553) shows our willingness to practice good purpose.
...Spinoza insists, it is nonetheless possible that two substances can be distinguished in virtue of them sharing an attribute and yet be distinct in nature by possessing an attribute not shared by the other. So, whereas substance A shares an attribute with substance B - namely, both share attribute C - the former differs in nature from the latter in terms of each one possessing an attribute not contained by the other. If the nature of Substance A is attribute C and attribute D, and if the nature of substance B is C and E, then it appears that the nature of each one, though each shares an attribute in common, is fundamentally distinct. So, it appears that Spinoza’s commitment to the thesis that no two substances share the same nature or attribute stands in error, and thus I conclude under the possibility two substances sharing an attribute while differing in nature.
St. Thomas Aquinas presents five arguments to demonstrate the existence of God. However, this paper focuses on the fifth argument. The fifth argument is regarded as the Teleological Argument and states that things that lack intelligence act for some end or purpose. While the fifth argument satisfies God’s existence for Aquinas, some contemporary readers would argue that Aquinas neglects the laws of physics. Others argue that Aquinas allows a loophole in his argument so that the Catholic conception of God is not the only intelligent designer.
In chapter three there is a somewhat disparate side of the ontological argument. It centers on the nature of God than the meaning of him. Particularly, this chapter centers on the early quality of God that is the fact that he needs to exist. Inanimate things, supplementary living things, and humans are ...
For Spinoza, the freedom of the human will hinges on its ability to act independently of desire and appetite, to control the body with will. Spinoza questions this idea of control by examining the nature of the body, namely if it can be completely understood, and thereby controlled. Sleepwalking is a prime example of an ability held by the body that functions in the absence of the will of the mind, thus Spinoza concludes the nature of the body is yet to be determined. After finding that no one has rightly determined or explained all of the possible qualities of the body, he writes, “this shows well enough that the body itself, simply from the laws of its own nature, can do many things which it mind wonders at.” Continuing with this idea of
A want is classified as to desire greatly and an inclination towards. If religion is therefore a want, then freedom must exist. To be able to choose religion means having the choice to do so, so therefore freedom would have to exist. For a want is something you can choose, not a requirement. Freedom is ultimately crossing the fear barrier that prevents you from completing a task. For example, MLK was ultimately free when he was placed in the Birmingham Jail in Alabama. He was free because he had crossed the fear barrier and knew that he was free, for he stood up for what he believed in. Existentialist and Indeterminists would agree upon this matter. Kierkegaard, whom was a believer in existential freedom would concur that religion is a want.
One of the main reasons why Meditation III carries out such a sense of curiosity is because Descartes' philosophical writings obeyed a very unique trail, one that pursued a path of pureness and genuineness. He believed truly in the importance of ethics as it connected to individuals within the natural world, and his idea of forming a suitable ethical language was assumed to be the only way in which people could accurately base their value structure. Within this natural realm of which he spoke, Descartes hypothesized that information was the definitive regulator of the environment, thus supporting the teleological quarrel as evidence of God. He continued and hypothesized as to how he could at last cover the vast gap that occurred between thought and action. It was through his texts that Descartes implemented the possibility that all thought and action are connected, bringing to attention the view of science and how it undeniably demonstrated the same evidence.
God is by defined as, “a substance consisting of infinite attributes” in Proposition 11. Spinoza presents 3 Axioms based off his definitions to prove God’s existence. They are as follows: “(e)verything that exists, exists either in itself or in something else”, “(t)hat which cannot be conceived through anything else must be conceived though itself”, and “(t)hat from a given definite cause an effect necessarily follows”. He uses these, along with his Propositions and Definitions to argue God’s existence in four steps.
of Gods existence. The factors that go into their views on reason will be compared and accented within this essay. The order of the universe is knowable to Descartes. He proves these by
The Transcendental Deductions of the pure concept of the understanding in Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, in its most general sense, explains how concepts relate a priori to objects in virtue of the fact that the power of knowing an object through representations is known as understanding. According to Kant, the foundation of all knowledge is the self, our own consciousness, because without the self, experience is not possible. The purpose of this essay is to lay out Kant’s deduction of the pure concept of understanding and show how our concepts are not just empirical, but a priori concept. We will walk through Kant’s argument and reasoning as he uncovers each layer of understanding, eventually leading up to the conclusion mentioned above. In the Transcendental aesthetics, Kant defines the objective validity of Space and Time as concepts a priori with the help of Geometry, showing that if we believe in the validity of Geometry, we have to believe that Space and Time are concepts a priori.
Throughout the history of metaphysics the question, What is? has always been answered in an incomplete,unsatisfactory or complicated manner, but Spinoza tried to answer this question in an exceptional way simply by describing God and His essence. Based on Spinoza’s views, God’s qualities can be referred to as attributes and modes are merely affections of a substance. This paper will provide a detailed view of Spinoza’s key ontological definition of God as the only substance, his attributes, and their co-relations. The study goes further to explore the major scholarly argument between Spinoza and Descartes, in regard to their view of substance, and its attributes.
Spinoza's philosophy had a practical aim. What he wanted to do was to show the way to perfect peace of mind and joy offered by the life of reason. The Ethics is written as a guidebook to a happy, intellectually flourishing life. Basic in Spinoza's thought is the simple observation that we all want to live well but do not know the way to a happy life. He wanted to give us the instructions which include principles about how to guard us from the power of passions which prevent the mind from understanding. In this paper my aim is to consider how well founded Spinoza's techniques against the passions are. I will do this by concentrating on Jonathan Bennett's criticism of Spinozistic psychotherapy. Bennett finds from the Ethics three central techniques of freeing oneself from passions: (i) reflecting on determinism; (ii) separating and joining; and (iii) turning passions into actions. Bennett believes that all these techniques are in some sense flawed. My contention is that Bennett offers good criticism against 'reflecting on determinism'-technique but that his criticism against 'separating and joining'-technique as well as against 'turning passions into actions'-technique is not well-founded. The paper devotes most space to the 'turning passions into actions'-technique. However, before considering Bennett's view of Spinoza's psychotherapy, I will give an overview of Spinoza's theory of activity and passivity.
Descartes believes God exists and plays a key role in his belief that he is a thinking thing residing in a material world. God’s existence is an innate idea we are born with. This idea explains how our clear and distinct reasoning leads us towards knowledge. Descartes believes God to be a perfect being, so he cannot deceive us. Since he has a perfect knowledge and supplies us with truth in this world, we must believe we reside in a material world.
Part 1: Choose one or two of the Spinoza´s Fourth Part of Ethics and explain the sense of the proposition. Add to your explanation an example and finally your own critical assessment of Spinoza 's position.