Essay On Spinoza

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Recommended: Spinozas substance monism

The metaphysical argument that is made by Spinoza has several interesting and different approaches then many other philosophers of his time. One of the main interesting arguments he raises is in his view of his monist metaphysics of God/Nature. In a brief overview this argument is to state that there is only one substance with infinite attributes, finite modes, and is God/Nature. Spinoza's substance monism argument takes place in his writings of "Ethics I". In this argument Spinoza's views God and Nature as one and does not use previous arguments for the existence of God/Nature. This brings up several issues that will be later covered in this paper.
In Spinoza's view everything in the universe exists as either a substance or a mode. Spinoza then defines both mode and substance in a very interesting method. To Spinoza a substance is that which is independent and needs nothing else in order to be conceived of or exist. He then explains that a mode is something that needs a substance to exist. This means that without a substance a mode cannot exist. Thus this brings Spinoza to explain that there is only one substance in the universe and he describes it as being God/nature. Another important definition to define is what Spinoza defines as God. God in Spinoza's mind is a substance that has infinite attributes, or an infinite being. This substance must have the qualities of being absolutely eternal and absolutely infinite. Spinoza does not argue for a specific God of any religion, but instead defines God and nature as being the same thing. With all of this Spinoza's see’s all animals, plants, humans, etc. are not substances, as many other philosophers argue, but instead they are modes of this one substance (112).
This idea has been l...

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...te to each other. This is importance because you would need to be able to explain the multiple essences and explain away the possibility of only one attribute that is perceived over an over again in the wrong way, thus creating multiple incorrect essences that really relate to a single essence. Both of these would give many a pause as to the validity and clarity of Spinoza’s argument.
In the end Spinoza argument lacks the backing and clarity needed to truly make his argument concrete in its assertions. If the arguments clearly explained what an attribute is and its relationship to other attributes and the essence of the substance it would gain a lot of footing. Also the idea that a single substance can only occur due to the idea that no two substances can share attributes lacks logic and leaves a lot to be explained. Overall it is an interesting but flawed argument.

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