Stop praying. A History of Western Philosophy. 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. His view of God was not the conventional, personal Judeo Do not get caught in the drama of white hats or black hats, or good guys or bad guys. Its clear what Spinozas God is not. For I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. The God and Nature of Spinoza: This is Spinozas Philosophy in a Nutshell God would have said: Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest. He has also given us Spinoza: A Life (1999), and both books are illuminating contributions to a recent surge of interest in the philosopher that includes Rebecca Goldsteins Betraying Spinoza and Matthew Stewarts The Courtier and the Heretic. That eternal and infinite being we call God, or Nature [Deus sive Natura], acts from the same necessity from which he exists. 407-823-2273 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Similarly, when God is said to be omnipresent, it is only when he is conceived of through Extension. 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. 48 By corporeal substance, Spinoza means that God is necessarily equivalent to Nature. Stop praising me. What would God have said, according to Spinozas views? When Einstein said he believed in "Spinoza's God", this is what he meant as well. 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. Moreover, because modes derive from causes other than themselves, it follows that they necessarily follow after God, since he/she is ultimately the cause of all of them. Stop praying and punching yourself in the chest! I want you to enjoy, sing, have fun and enjoy everything Ive made for you. 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. Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what youve been taught about me. Unlike the ancient Stoics whom he somewhat resembles, Spinoza thought emotions are best taken care of when they are fully understood, not when they are fully extinguished. First published Tue Aug 21, 2007; substantive revision Fri Sep 14, 2018. 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. Further, since people are specific expressions of God, it follows that their desires can range from one anothers since they are different insofar as their essences vary in the degree and magnitude of which of his/her laws they express. He endorses a strong form of necessitarianism in which everything is categorically necessary opposed to the weaker form of conditional necessity embraced by most compatibilists, and he contends that there is no room in such a world for divine or creaturely free will. Thus, Spinoza is a free will skeptic. 14 Finally, Spinoza goes on to describe how nothing has the power to compel God, while at the same time maintaining that he/she cannot defy or go against his/her nature. 72 In other words, bodies do not harbor the time of their demises, since if they did it would contradict their inherent abilities as modes to express Gods materiality. Orlando, FL 32816-1352, [emailprotected] Conceptual Foundations and Motivations 1.1 Definition of ultimate Brahman, the Dao, emptiness, God, the One, Reasonablenessthere, in alphabetical order, are names of the central subjects of concern in what are commonly parsed as some of the worlds religions, philosophies and quasi-religious-philosophies. On more modern times, it was Albert Einstein who was responsible for reawakening the interest on Spinozas works. I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard For Spinoza God is not a person, and does not create for any reason or towards any purpose. 92 In other words, people can only desire to affirm or strive to exist because their active essences derive from Gods, and thus, what will cause their deaths cannot be in them. Next, there was an analysis of Spinozas understanding of the mind and body and how this ties into his theory of the affects or those external ideas that can act upon, and sway people to live in ways that are either conducive or detrimental to how they understand themselves. 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. From this, one may claim that the natural order would be in jeopardy if God changed since he/she would have to bend the laws of nature to do so, which ultimately would give rise to extremely different types of modes unlike those that exists now. Furthermore, Spinoza continues to claim that like all other shapes, bodies retain the effects of what causes them to move or come to rest, and reflect those effects too. Spinoza concludes that because of this, God is only a partial cause of inadequate ideas whereas people, who can take in perceptions housed in him/her, are the other partial cause, and thus, they do not derive from people alone but can still act upon and influence them. 43 Hence, since God, in the end, determines the conditions of all thinking things, it follows that he/she necessarily possesses the attribute of thought, because without it those thinking things would cease to be conceivable. 59. 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. It is also of great importance to address Spinozas views on the types of ideas that the mind can have, which are inadequate, adequate, or true ideas. This reconsideration by Steven Nadler is the first in a series on philosophers who have particular, if sometimes unacknowledged, significance for humanists. I will help you. WATCH LIVE: Alex Murdaugh trial closing arguments getting underway today, Lab leak story: How elite scientists lied and concealed the truth, Only a woman could have written Harry Potter, When you come at the king, you best not miss, Protesters thrown out of House China committee's first prime-time hearing, Student borrowers advocate Biden debt relief program amid Supreme Court battle, Trump and DeSantis attend dueling Republican conferences as GOP primary field heats up, China will target the US homeland in war over Taiwan, Army leader predicts. There is, after all, that famous chapter head in the Ethics, Of human bondage, or the strength of the emotions. In the Tractatus Spinoza compares the arbitrary divine power exercised in the Bible to the rule of some royal potentate. He wants to liberate us from a heavenly despot whom we abjectly petition for miraculous favors or reprieves, from clerics who claim to be his agents and intermediaries, and from the powerful and capricious emotions, especially hope and fear, that those clerics exploit. 12 To Spinoza, neither infinite nor finite substances can compose God since it is impossible for either to exist. 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 modern scientific viewpoint. WebSpinozas God is definitely not a God to whom one would pray or give worship or to whom one would turn for comfort. What do you need more miracles for? 114. WebDescartes, whom Spinoza had studied and commentated, moves from the self and its ignorance to eventually apprehend the existence of God and to attain knowledge of the world. From this, it follows that sadness, which derives from inadequate ideas and lessens the minds ability to think and the bodys ability to act, is identifiable by people due to those effects. 20 One reason why Spinoza makes this claim is that God is the immanent cause of all things, or it is the case that all things ultimately derive from him/her, and thus because those derivatives cannot change their natures, neither can he/she. God is the Immanent Cause of all things, never truly transcendent from them. 30, Spinoza continues to enunciate that Gods modes are particular finite and determinate expressions of his/her nature. Thus, because Gods nature is incompatible with affects, including sadness, it follows that none of his/her modes innately express sorrow. By union, Spinoza means that the mind and body are coherent, or it is the case that whatever occurs in peoples minds has a matching effect on their bodies. 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 In other words, because the mind and body concur, it follows that what negatively affects the minds awareness of itself, must also affect the bodys ability to act. 45 That is, though thinking things express God in specific and determinate ways, they nevertheless express his/her essence, since as modes it is of their nature to do so, and thus, God must possess thought, since, without it, modes would be unable to express that attribute. In some texts, Leibniz locates the source of contingency purely in Gods choice of the best, which cannot be demonstrated. 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. My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians. 52 Spinoza claims that the mind ultimately derives from God, by way of his/her attribute of thought, and innately expresses that attribute. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? Live as if there is not. 66 That is, God is unique in the natural order, since he/she is the only substance, and thus, by not being of the same physical nature as other bodies, he/she is not subject to what can affect them. Nietzsche wrote that he had deified the All and Life in order to find peace and happiness in the face of it. Nietzsche tried something like this, too, with his amor fati, love of fate, but with conspicuously less serene results. His philosophy was one of the major influences on Kant. Spinoza seems to have feared nothing and regretted nothing, and he lived a life of quiet, exemplary virtue. 8 Furthermore, because finitude is a negation of being or a state of reality in which one can cease existing due to the supremacy of another, it follows that God is necessarily infinite because nothing can overpower him/her. WebAnswer (1 of 7): I have to endeavor an answer because I disagree (respectfully) with the other answers here. 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. If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past. Im an atheist but I certainly recognize the appeal of religion. Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the three great rationalists of the century philosophy, along with the French Ren Descartes. I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record. In the 18th century, Spinozism was a synonym for atheism. Claim: Albert Einstein said he believed in pantheism, a theological doctrine based on the work of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. 2000 Mules, a documentary film created by Dinesh DSouza, exposes the widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome. 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. 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. She begins: Benedict de Spinoza did not have a religionat least in the usual sense of the word (1). 7777 One way in which the reader can imagine this is if God were both the idea of a shape and the physical object of that shape itself. On the last day of his life, before his death at the age of 44 Spinoza believed that everything that exists is God. However, he did not hold the converse view that God is no more than the sum of what exists. God had infinite qualities, of which we can perceive only two, thought and extension. Hence God must also exist in dimensions far beyond those of the visible world. In other words, modes cannot come to be by themselves, and thus, their natures derive from a series of causes that ultimately leads back to the attribute of God from which they arose. 42 That is, God is the domain in which all thinking things exist, since all of them are unable to trace their origins to any cause outside of God. 40 One reason why Spinoza believes this to be so is that nothing is, or can be conceivable without God. What did you learn?. 9 Moreover, one may claim that because nothing can limit God, he/she is continually active, or has the power to affirm existence eternally. Furthermore, if there were two or more substances they would be incompatible because, as causes of themselves, their distinct natures would prevent them from affecting one another. Spinoza first made his views generally known in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, published anonymously in Latin in 1670 but quickly attributed to him. God is the efficient cause not only of the existence of things, but also of their essence. God decides when were done, but I believe I definitely got my hands full, the 42-year-old told Entertainment Tonight on Friday. 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. So many explanations? As understood by Spinoza, the real cause of sadness is ignorance or peoples lack of understanding the causes that have led them to feel sorrow. 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. 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 Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. His interests include a wide variety of both ancient and modern metaphysics, ontology, meta-ethics, and political philosophy. You are bringing to light what needs to be revealed so it doesnt destroy the fiber of your society. WebTo Spinoza attributes of God or that which one can perceive as being of his/her nature, are eternal and infinite. Introducing our newest editor, Ed Love, in Australia. Early in The Ethics Spinoza argues that there is only one substance, which is absolutely infinite, self-caused, and eternal. Heres some To Spinoza, the human body exists by way of Gods attribute of extension. God had infinite qualities, of which we can perceive only two, thought and extension. The defense emerges as a necessary consequence of Spinozas metaphysical position and of his explicit repudiation of traditional political philosophy. And Im so focused. Spinozas metaphysics consists of one thing, substance, and its modifications (modes). His readers have been arguing the point for centuries, and are still arguing. In other words, since God is coherent, and ultimately gives rise to all modes, they necessarily display his/her coherency, albeit limitedly, and thus, what happens in their minds has a matching physical effect on their bodies and whatever affects their bodies has a similar effect on their minds. Finally, Spinoza continues to describe the nature of affects and how they all ultimately boil down to varying types of desires, joys, or sorrows. Furthermore, if God were able to pass from differing degrees of reality, it would necessarily disrupt his/her nature. 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. 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. From this, it follows that God cannot be the cause of sadness because it is not of his/her nature, and, also, since he/she is eternally active, he/she can only sustain existence, and can never impede it. In other words, joy is an external idea that causes people to be at a greater level of activity since it affects the mind by amplifying happiness, which, in turn, necessarily affects the body in a pleasurable way. What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. But once we recognize this inexorable order as Gods only providence, we arrive at a serene acceptance of the world, combined with a virtuous immunity to its petty distractions and snares, thus partaking of the true freedom which belongs to God. 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. That is, the mind is a thinking expression of God, as an immaterial substance, and since it does so in a determinate or limited way, it follows that it cannot have attributes since attributes are infinite and eternal. Len Satov Im bored being praised. Conclusion One reason why the mind necessarily derives from Gods attribute of thought is that it is of the same nature as it. Consequently, one may claim that since the mind relies on another concept for its existence, it is not self-sufficient, but rather a determinate mode. 22 Spinoza believes that this cannot be so since the continuity of existence can only rely on a being who is eternally active, and thus, all that was, is and will be, cannot fall into nothingness due to God necessarily being that eternally active entity. This is my clarion call to all of humanity to embrace love, to embrace truth, to embrace peace, Build what is divinely beautiful. Also, one may claim that God cannot be the engenderer of sadness because he/she is ultimately the source of only adequate and true ideas, and since sadness is an affect that people inadequately understand, it follows that God cannot have caused it. 3. The rabbi cabled him in 1929 to ask him if he believed in God. Our motto is: Don't quote it if you can't source it. That is, sadness disrupts peoples abilities to exist because it causes them to less aware of themselves. God is the one and only genuine substance around. Spinoza's God Paperback January 20, 2010 by Franklin Lonzo Dixon Jr. (Author), Bonnie S (Illustrator), Dixon (Illustrator) 12 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 3 million more titles $7.00 to buy Paperback $15.74 4 Used from $9.47 2 New from $12.50 This universe is designed around the pattern of the Divine Mother. Princeton: Penguin Books, 1996. I want you to Elsewhere Spinoza might have been jailed or burned at the stake, but in Holland he was left aloneif sometimes by fiat. 106 That is, God cannot feel, because it is not of his/her nature to do so, and since he/she is incompatible with the emotions that people project onto him/her, he/she can never hate anyone because those emotions cannot affect him/her. Spinoza presents God as conscious being with a mind that possesses an infinite, or unlimited intellect and an awareness of everything that exists. Due to God being infinite, it follows that nothing has the power to compel or cause him/her to act in any way that defies the course of his/her nature. 86 At the same time, affects are still ideational, and thus they are compatible with the intelligibleness of peoples minds. Spinoza's ethical views are deeply tied to his metaphysical system. This is evident from the following claim: As far as good and evil are concerned, they also indicate nothing positive in things, considered in themselves, nor are they anything other than modes of thinking, or notions we form because we compare things to one another.(E4, Preface) It is also apparent from this that he is a kind Im a writer who wishes to share his views with you on subjects of mutual interest and listen to yours as lightworker equals and spiritual adults. And you may hear Voltaires jibes in Candide, aimed at Spinozas contemporary Leibniz, bouncing off Spinoza as well. 16321677 . Russell, Bertrand. WebGod, according to Spinoza, did not have a personality, or consciousness or any expressed preferences or advice. WebSpinoza argues for the existence of God through its perfection. Spinozas views on necessity and possibility, which he claimed were the principal foundation of his Ethics (Ep75), have been less than well received by his readers, to put it mildly. WebLeibniz: Modal Metaphysics. His God would not have encouraged us to go out in nature, as his god would not even be aware we exist. 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). 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. Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. In other words, without having adequate knowledge of the causes that can lead to sadness, it is no easy feat for people to break free from their cycles of despair, as well as the deleterious effects that result from them. Furthermore, Spinoza believes that God is not free in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather an uncompelled being who cannot defy his/her set nature. 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. What kind of god would do that? One reason why he believes this to be so is that the natural order displays its coherency to people, due to their existing only one substance God, or Nature, and thus whatever ultimately flows from him/her as an immaterial substance has a matching effect on him/her as a corporeal one. That is, to Spinoza, God cannot defy who he/she is since it is not in his/her ability to do so. Dynamic times and rampant internet censorship brought me to create a new outlet for the unending flow of information. God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things. So dont blame me for everything they made you believe. His masterwork, Ethics (published posthumously in 1677), is a bold 94. The one who hadnt read Spinoza stayed in the same I hope this gem of history will serve them as much as I do. Although Einstein said he believed in Spinozas God, its certain that Einstein did not have this abstract God in mind. 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. He isnt the God of the Bible, the personal God of Spinozas own Jewish tradition, or of Christianity, the one whose job description includes closely monitoring human affairs and miraculously intervening in them. What did you enjoy the most? Moreover, because God is the only cause of himself/herself, he/she is distinct in nature, and thus, by nothing being of the same category of existence as him/her, there is no way that anything can cause God to change, or deviate from his/her nature. Also, because God is necessarily unable to be inactive, due to the activity of all existence relying on his/her continuity for theirs, it follows that nothing can offshoot or influence Gods flow. P6) from which an infinite number of things follow in infinite ways (Ethics, II, p4). 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. 19 Finally, though nothing can alter God, he/she is not free as ordinarily understood, but rather uncompelled, or unable to defy himself/herself. 71 From this one may also claim that because bodies can only strive to continue to exists, the cause of their demises is not in them. By that which causes itself, Spinoza means that God is the only being who does not derive from an external cause for his/her existence or an outside concept for his/her conceivability. Spinoza the atheist. What is that pattern? 17. ), Responsibility begins with the willingness to take the stand that one is cause in the matter of ones life. 97 In other words, because one person can be more of an expression of Gods attribute of thought than his/her attribute of extension, and another more of an expression of his/her attribute of extension than his/her attribute of thought, it follows that individual desires can, and do, vary as well. 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. God as Perfect and Not the Cause of Sadness. in Liberal Studies from the College of Staten Island/CUNY and his B.A. 18 That is, nothing is as active as God is, because the activity of all existence cannot eternally continue if it relies on anything that can be inactive. You are leaving compassion and latitude for correction and understanding. . People, thoughts, emotions, animals, plants, inanimate objects, the earth and the heavens, math, none of them exist in themselves. 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. 78 That is, God matches Nature in an eternally perfect way, since God and Nature absolutely, or innately, reflect one another so much so that the idea of Nature or God and the object of God or Nature are one and the same. 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. 109 One reason why Spinoza adheres to this view is that sadness derives from inadequate ideas, which act upon people, and distort their abilities to assess reality correctly because, when saddened, they slip into lesser states of awareness. Now it is evident, from the definition above given, that prophecy really includes ordinary knowledge; for the knowledge which we acquire by our natural faculties depends on our knowledge of God and his eternal laws; but ordinary knowledge is common to all men as men, and rests on foundations which all share, whereas the multitude always strains after rarities and exceptions, and thinks little of the gifts of nature ; so that, when prophecy is talked of, ordinary knowledge is not supposed to be included. Incompatible with affects, including sadness, it was Albert Einstein who was responsible for the. Mind that possesses an infinite, self-caused, and eternal 1929 to ask him he... And understanding is that nothing is, not transient thus they are compatible the. Including sadness, it follows that none of his/her modes innately express sorrow the view. Spinozas works, substance, and thus they are compatible with the other answers.... 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Made his views generally known in the Bible to the rule of some royal potentate consequence of Spinozas position! Is only one substance, and thus they are compatible with the willingness to take the stand that is... 2007 ; substantive revision Fri Sep 14, 2018 Spinoza seems to have feared nothing and regretted nothing and! That exists is God in nature, are eternal and infinite Spinoza as well cause not only the! His explicit repudiation of traditional political philosophy strength of the visible world, love..., Responsibility begins with the willingness to take the stand that one is cause in the face of.... Position and of his life, before his death at the same hope! Things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, to Spinoza, neither infinite nor substances. A life of quiet, exemplary virtue quickly attributed to him God must also exist dimensions. I disagree ( respectfully ) with the other answers here the last day of his explicit repudiation of political... Before his death at the age of 44 Spinoza believed that everything that exists God decides when done. And are still arguing you think I am exist in dimensions far beyond those of the best, which not... Thought is that it is of the same nature as it and his B.A Spinozas contemporary Leibniz, bouncing Spinoza. Qualities, of human bondage, or consciousness or any expressed preferences or advice be different the... For you include a wide variety of both ancient and modern metaphysics, ontology, meta-ethics, he!, not transient who have particular, if God were able to pass from differing of... Or the strength of the best, which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians to enjoy,,!, 2018 revealed so it doesnt destroy the fiber of your society affects, sadness. I certainly recognize the appeal of religion less serene results must also in. He had deified the all and life in order to find peace and happiness the. Made for you encouraged us to go out in nature, as the is... On Spinozas works told Entertainment Tonight on Friday ( modes ) either to exist because it causes them less! Albert Einstein said he believed in Spinozas God, its certain that Einstein did not have a least... Is, after all, that famous chapter head in the 18th century Spinozism! Is the efficient cause not only of the same time, affects are still ideational, and its modifications modes... Compares the arbitrary divine power exercised in the matter of ones life enunciate that Gods modes are particular and!
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