Furthermore, when something causes someone joy, it follows that that person is feeling joy due to that thing, and not from the feelings of happiness alone. That is, attributes eternally express God, and since they exist distinctly from one another, they cannot be compatible, which, in turn, bars them from limiting one another because they are not of the same natures. Another reason why there cannot be a change in God when bodies undergo change is that since his/her corporeality is unlike anything in nature, due to him/her being the only cause of himself/herself, it is the case that other bodies cannot affect him/her. Consequently, people may claim that they cannot know other minds as well as their minds since they only have ideas of other minds and not the knowledge of what it is to be in those other minds. Spinoza is commonly (but not by all of his interpreters) assumed to be a pantheist, which means that since Nature or Substance are synonyms of God, God and Nature or Substance are identical. Indeed, Spinoza explicitly wrote that Whatever is, is in God, and nothing can be or be conceived without God and that all things are in God (1p17d). 64 Consequently, because God, as an infinitely extended being, does not match any other body in him/her, it follows that he/she cannot alter when they undergo change. Shelley channeled him in his own arguments for atheism, George Eliot translated him, Hegel and Marx admired him, and he was one of Nietzsches favorite philosophers. Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the three great rationalists of the century philosophy, along with the French Ren Descartes. It is a declaration not an assertion, that is, it is a context from which one chooses to live. Elsewhere Spinoza might have been jailed or burned at the stake, but in Holland he was left aloneif sometimes by fiat. What would God have said, according to Spinozas views? (Archangel Michael: Do not Get Caught in the Drama of White Hats or Black Hats, Nov. 12, 2019; Im neither qualified to be a spiritual teacher nor do I wish to be one. The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders. One consequence is that everything that happens in nature, and everything that natures lawful order dishes out to us personally, is necessarythe way the conclusion of a logical or mathematical demonstration is necessary. Rocco Astore is a graduate student at the New School for Social Research, and he received his M.A. Moreover, if one looks more closely at the Stoic conception of God, it is by no means evident that it is the same as Spinoza's. Einstein replied, I believe in Spinozas God, who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.. 50 In other words, because God is infinite and equivalent to Nature, it follows that the infinite attribute of extension is his/hers alone since he/she is the only being in the natural order that is of the same nature as it. This universe is designed around the pattern of the Divine Mother. New York: Harvest Books, 1966. A History of Western Philosophy. WebSPINOZA, BENEDICT (BARUCH) DE (1632 1677). I dont want you to believe in me. 91, From this it follows that affects can either assists people or deter them from their desires to live, or aid or restrain their innate abilities to be. WebSpinozas idea of God as infinite and lacking nothing, meant that he viewed God as a substance with infinite attributes. Second, it is also illogical to believe that God is reducible to a totality of finite substances because they too cannot exist. 29 Finally, Spinoza continues by addressing the nature of modes or that which ultimately derives from God and his/her attributes. This piece has explained Spinozas views on the nature of God, his/her attributes, and the modes that ultimately arise from him/her. I give you my divine authority to do so. Part 5/8, The 9D Arcturian Council Through Daniel Scranton: The March 2023 Energies, Jennifer Crokaert ~ St Germaine: The Lovers Archetype, From the Bottom of Our Hearts, We Thank You, Whats Actually Happening with Chemtrails? [emailprotected], Florida Philosophical Review Benedict de Spinoza, Hebrew forename Baruch, Latin forename Benedictus, Portuguese Bento de Espinosa, (born November 24, 1632, Amsterdamdied February 21, 1677, The Hague), Dutch Jewish philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of 17th-century Rationalism and one of the early and seminal figures of the Enlightenment. Winter 2016. Russell, Bertrand. . WebBENEDICT SPINOZA. Furthermore, if God were able to pass from differing degrees of reality, it would necessarily disrupt his/her nature. He used logic to deduce his fundamental principles. One reason why Spinoza believes that modes are finite is that there can only be one infinite substance in nature since a plurality of substances cannot exist. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Although Einstein said he believed in Spinozas God, its certain that Einstein did not have this abstract God in mind. At the age of 23 he was formally excommunicated, and cursed, by Jewish authorities in Amsterdam, where he had been raised in a Portuguese-Jewish family, probably for heretical ideas overheard in his conversations. 62 One reason why Spinoza believes this is that bodies are of the same nature since they derive from the same attribute of God, and thus, it is the case that they all agree or relate in certain ways. Thus, because Gods nature is incompatible with affects, including sadness, it follows that none of his/her modes innately express sorrow. 32 Consequently, because God is that one infinite substance, and because that makes modes necessarily finite, it follows that there are limits to their existences, and thus, one may claim that that also makes them determinate. 70 Consequently, due to bodies ultimately deriving from an eternally active corporeal substance, or God, it follows that they innately express that activity as modes, and thus, it is the case that bodies cannot refuse to persevere in their beings. The book was a bit too much for tolerant but still Calvinist Holland, where it was denounced as blasphemous and dangerous. The Stoic God is said to be the 'principle of intelligibility in the universe' (p. 11), so strictly speaking God is part of the universe, without coinciding with it; but Spinoza's God is whatever there is. 9 Moreover, one may claim that because nothing can limit God, he/she is continually active, or has the power to affirm existence eternally. Conclusion 111 But, to Spinoza, these are absurdities, since God, who is the only being in eternal and immutable activity, cannot cause inadequate ideas since it does not match his/her natural essence. 110 Ultimately, this lack of knowledge leads Spinoza to claim that it can lead people to superstitious beliefs, such as God being the cause of their sorrows, or that God can curse them to feel saddened. The Tractatus, Nadler points out, is a more readable and urgent book than his posthumously published magnum opus, the Ethics, with its rigorously Euclidean, axiomatic format, but the books have a common aim: liberation from bondage, whether psychological, political, or religious.. Spinoza, Benedict De. WebThis is the nature of the God of Spinoza: God would have said: Stop praying and giving yourselves blows on your chests, what I want you to do is to go out into the world to enjoy So many explanations? Information is Light. God would have said: Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest! According to Spinoza, God is perfect and cannot feel the effects of sadness. WebAnswer (1 of 5): I have never studied Spinoza's philosophy in detail, nor can I even read Latin, but I have always understood Spinoza's concept of God to be of the same flavor University of Central Florida My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians. Therefore, due to God being the only being that is continually active and limitless, it follows that nothing can compel or cause him/her to defy his/her nature since nothing is of the same kind as him/her. I will help you. Claim: Albert Einstein said he believed in pantheism, a theological doctrine based on the work of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Lastly, by maintaining that God is perfect and that the existence of sadness derives from ignorance, and not him/her, this essay hoped to argue effectively that Gods perfection is still justifiable, despite the realities of sadness. That is, God ultimately sets the conditions for the existence of modes, and thus, it is the case that they are not limitless, but rather compelled by the will of another. That is because modes are finite and determinate, and follow the laws of Gods eternal nature, it is the case that they necessarily exist in him/her, since if they did not, they would be infinite and under no form of compulsion. Cold deterministic rationalism? His philosophy was one of the major influences on Kant. N ear the beginning of The Family Moskat, Isaac Bashevis Singer introduces us to a young man from a distinguished rabbinic family named Asa Heschel Bannet: At five he http://www.lensatov.com/, * On the Importance of the Universal Laws. That is, sadness disrupts peoples abilities to exist because it causes them to less aware of themselves. Finally, Spinoza explains how it is unlike anything to come before God. Further, it would be impossible for modes to come into existence at the same time as God because there can only be one cause-of-itself in nature. 63 That is, bodies, like other surfaces, reflect what impacts them, and the remnants of those effects continues on, both in Nature and on those bodies impacted. Nadler does an excellent job of summarizing Spinozas sometimes convoluted arguments in the Tractatus and making clear how original they were, stressing his departures from influences like Maimonides, Descartes, and his older contemporary Hobbes, whose tough-minded raison dtat realism he adopted in the political part of the book before steering toward unheard-of democratic conclusions. One philosopher, Spinoza, claimed that everything ultimately follows from God and that sadness is a persons passage from a greater degree of perfection to a lesser one. I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard 37 From this, one may claim that modes cannot exist outside of God because, for something to exist outside of something else, it must precede it. Spinoza presents God as conscious being with a mind that possesses an infinite, or unlimited intellect and an awareness of everything that exists. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in the 17th century of a businessman father who was successful but not wealthy. Web"The fundamental atheism of Spinoza," said David Hume, "is the doctrine of the simplicity of the universe and the unity of that substance in which he supposes both thought and matter to inhere." WebGod, according to Spinoza, did not have a personality, or consciousness or any expressed preferences or advice. 53 In other words, minds innately think, and thus, they must derive from Gods attribute of thought since without him/her they would be unable express his/her essence as a thinking thing. Steven Nadlers lucid book about Spinozas shocking book takes its title from a contemporary pamphlet that described it as a book forged in hell. Nadlers own book was forged in Madison, where he is a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. Did you have fun? And he gives us the historical context of Dutch Golden Age politics and culture, which usually allowed the tolerant cosmopolitanism of its merchant class to prevail over clerical indignation. Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds of ourselves or the prophets, but against that eternal decree of God, which is written in universal nature, and has regard to the course of nature as a whole, he can do nothing. I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard to the Eternal Son of God, that is the Eternal Wisdom of God, which has manifested itself in all things and especially in the human mind, and above all in Christ Jesus, the case is far otherwise. Consequently, because attributes are independent of needing one another to exists, they are necessarily eternal because they only depend on God, or the sole eternal being, for their existence and conceivability. 287 pages. All beings are birthed directly from the Heart of One. Furthermore, because people can know the difference between adequate and inadequate ideas, it is the case that they can understand those ideas that increase their abilities to think, or not, and thus, what can affect their bodies to strive more ably, or not, to live. (Archangel Michael, Personal Reading, June 17, 2020. Dutch Jewish philosopher Benedict de Spinoza was best known for his Ethics (1677), which laid out in geometric form arguments for the existence of an impersonal God, the identity of mind and body, determinism, and a way of overcoming the dominance of the passions and achieving freedom and 101 That is, God, who is an eternally active being, who is equivalent to Nature, cannot feel sadness since he/she is necessarily flawless. In the Ethics though, Spinoza does away with the talk of propria and does not accord them really any status as such. 60 By this, Spinoza means that God, as an extended substance, causes the conditions, or the laws of his/her attribute of extension which ultimately enables peoples bodies to come to be. God is the one and only genuine substance around. Moreover, Spinoza claims that sadness accompanied with the idea of the external cause of sadness is hate. By perfect, Spinoza understands God as being at the highest degree of reality, and since he/she is eternally active, and thus, immutable, it follows that his/her perfection is constant. in Philosophy from Hunter College/CUNY. 99 That is, joy increases the minds ability to think and the bodys ability to act, and thus, it assists and brings people to a state in which they strive more powerfully in their beings. Im locked in. Also, what composes a human body are smaller individual bodies that are either at rest or in motion, which reflect the nature of all other bodies. Responsibility is not burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt. Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest! The defense emerges as a necessary consequence of Spinozas metaphysical position and of his explicit repudiation of traditional political philosophy. But thats why secularist readers (Nadler among them) have always seen Spinozas God as a thin disguise for an orderly, perhaps awe-inspiring, but purposeless and indifferent nature. Gods perfection gives all things existence as well as essence (Spinoza, 1985, p. 87) . Furthermore, the mind and body are coherent since if the mind existed through the attribute of extension, it would follow the same path as the body, and if the body existed through the attribute of thought, it would follow the same path as the mind. Im locked in. In other words, if finite substances did compose God, that would mean that he/she would be finite too, but this cannot be the case since finite things do not have the power to affect something that is infinite. 105 That is, if God were to change it would affect the natural order, since as Nature, God maintains the existence of all things physical. 23 In other words, God cannot defy his/her nature because by being eternally active all existence ultimately depends on him/her, and since being can never truly fade into nothingness, it follows that God cannot change his/her ceaselessly active nature. 65 In other words, Gods being as a corporeal substance does not match other bodies since they are finite, and it follows that he/she is incompatible with them since they are not of the same natures. 3. And Im so focused. Heres some of him. in Liberal Studies from the College of Staten Island/CUNY and his B.A. This reconsideration by Steven Nadler is the first in a series on philosophers who have particular, if sometimes unacknowledged, significance for humanists. Oppression is something that one group of people commits against another group specifically because of a threatening characteristic shared by the latter group. Although Leibniz had many philosophical and intellectual interests, he was arguably most First, Spinoza states that those who believe in free will are mistaken in their belief that the body does not move unless the mind is active. 16321677 . What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. Remaining unaffiliated in religion, unmarried, living simply, supporting himself by grinding lenses, he gathered a circle of relatively freethinking scholars and friends, including Quakers and Mennonites. Pantheistic mysticism? While he was at it he also demolished the Bibles claim to be the word of God, seizing on its inconsistencies and anachronisms, reduced religion to the simple moral imperative to love our neighbor (the rest being merely organized superstition), and called for a maximum freedom of thought and an end to all ecclesiastical authority over society. 88 That is, though people have inadequate knowledge of external affects it follows that they are still ideas and thus they can determine people to think and physically act in certain ways. Things could not have been brought into being by God in any manner or in any order different from that which has in fact obtained. 81 Lastly, Spinoza continues his metaphysical speculations by addressing how it is that the mind and body work together in a coherent fashion. Also, if God were made up of finite substances he/she would necessarily be finite as well, which is illogical because nothing has the power to limit him/her. scientist) following into spinozas God. 10 Hence, because God cannot cease to be, due to everythings existence being dependent on him/her, it follows that he/she perfectly ensures the continuity of existence, since he/she is the only being that people can understand as having to be ceaselessly active. From this, one may also claim that because it is innate of thinking things to think, it follows that God must possess the attribute of thought because what is inherently in him/her, must, in some ways, be in his/her modes, due to his/her immanence. How can I punish you for being the way you are, if Im the one who made you? Spinozas Metaphysics: Substance and Thought. Hence, since God is the only eternally active being, it follows that only he/she possesses the reliability to ensure the continuity of the unceasing activity found in the natural order. Creation, preservation, transformation = love building, love preserving, love dissolving = inbreath, pause, outbreath = rajas, sattwa, thamas (gunas) = Akar, Ukar, Makar (Aum) = Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (Trimurthy). One reason why the mind necessarily derives from Gods attribute of thought is that it is of the same nature as it. To Spinoza, inadequate ideas are those notions that people cannot fully understand due to them not arising from themselves alone. That is, what is not in Gods modes, cannot be of God, since he/she exudes his/her being, and thus, is not fully distinct from what follows from his/her nature. Hence, when sadness ceases to affect a person, Spinoza claims that individual is living by reason, or an intellectual love of God, or Nature, whose ceaselessly active nature can only be the greatest asset for anyones survival. Part 4/8, https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dr.-David-Martin-MURDER-CHARGES-Against-Fauci-Peter-Daszak-Ralph-Baric-and-many-others.mp4, https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LEAKED-22Project-Pandora22-Multiple-Presidents-KILLED-to-Keep-this-HIDDEN.mp4, https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Cities-across-Canada-join-the-movement-1.mp4, https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/telegram-cloud-document-1-4915997293301204030-1-1.mp4. The said Espinoza should be excommunicated and expelled from the people of Israel. 41 From this, it follows that God necessarily houses all thinking things, since nothing can exist outside of him/her, and thus, they are subject to the laws of thought that his/her essence exudes, which, in turn, allows them to be conceivable. That is, Spinoza believes that though bodies are subject to numerous effects, and can undergo change, it is nevertheless the case that there cannot be a change in God, or Nature due to those bodies being finite in nature, whereas he/she is infinite. Jaspers, Karl. 56 In other words, the mind, which depends on God, and his/her infinite attribute of thought, cannot determine its nature, because it does not cause itself, and thus, it must follow the flow of Gods immutable essence since it ultimately derived from his/her fixed essence. That is, there is a likeness between the immateriality of the mind and the intelligible features of the natural order, which Gods attribute of thought gives rise to, and since only things of the same kind are compatible, it follows that minds necessarily arise from that attribute due to them both being immaterial. Finally, Spinoza goes on to describe the true cause of sadness, which, in turn, maintains Gods perfection. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? 47, According to Spinoza, God is also a corporeal substance who possess the attribute of extension. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) has long appealed to skeptics and secularists. Of course, you may still wonder if his deterministic nature, which has no room for free will, just exchanges one form of bondage for another. 16321677 . That is, Spinoza believes that through the application of reason, people can gain knowledge, and by doing so, inadequate ideas cease to influence them, and thus, emotions such as sadness can no longer affect them. He shows how modern biblical criticism and the broad Enlightenment program for a secular, scientific society were effectively launched in the book. Spinoza calls the state of mind associated with sadness, melancholy, and its matching physical effect, pain. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. In other words, because only substances are causes of themselves, it follows that only they are unique, and thus, by not being of the same ontological type they are unable to interact. Re-Intoxicated by God. Web1. 98 Furthermore, though peoples desires can differ, Spinoza nevertheless states that those desires that help them to live maximally, or to their fullest capacities, as they understand themselves, are good. In other words, due to God having to be ceaselessly active to ensure the continuity of the natural order, it is the case that he/she cannot fall into a lesser state of activity or sadness, and thus, his/her essence cannot operate against or take away from anyones being. WebSpinoza is often put forward as the father of pantheism and as the greatest pantheist, but in fact his writings on God are extremely abstract and theoretical, very unappealing to a 100, VI. 74 Lastly, Spinoza continues to describe how the order and connection of ideas follow the same as the order and connection of things. 26 Furthermore, people can understand attributes as only being eternal and infinite since they arise through themselves, and thus, they are independent of needing one another for the continuity of their existences. Finally, Spinoza goes on to state the nature of Gods attributes, and his/her modes, or particular determinant expressions of him/her and those attributes.
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