Spinoza’s ‘Infinite Modes’ Reconsidered

Primus, Kristin

doi:10.32881/jomp.69

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…According to Melamed (2018), the reason for this is that it is one of Spinoza's few original concepts, i.e., concepts which are not to be found in his philosophical predecessors. There are, however, commentators who attempted a comprehensive interpretation; for example, Errol E. Harris (1995, 22-51), Melamed (2013Melamed ( , 2018, or Kristin Primus (2019). For Spinoza's grasp of these modes, see E1p21-23 in Ethics, or letters 63 and 64 from his correspondence (Spinoza 2002c, 916-919).…”

Section: The Love That Makes the Mind Eternalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Three Final Doctrines of Spinoza: Intuition, Amor Dei, the Eternity of the Mind

Joppová

2020

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The study deals with the matter of three of the most puzzling doctrines of Baruch Spinoza's system, the so-called 'final doctrines', which are intuitive knowledge, intellectual love of God, and the eternity of the (human) mind. Contrary to many commentators, but also in concordance with many others, this account strives to affirm the utmost importance of these doctrines to Spinoza's system as a whole, but mostly to his ethical theory. Focusing specifically on the cultivation of the human mind, the paper offers partial analyses of the central notions of these doctrines and their conceptual contexts. It is argued that the cultivation of the human mind, i.e., its determination to its perfect activity, should be considered as Spinoza's ultimate ethical goal, and that the mind truly only advances to this goal by means of these cognitive, affective, and intellectual transformations of thinking.

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Section: The Love That Makes the Mind Eternalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Three Final Doctrines of Spinoza: Intuition, Amor Dei, the Eternity of the Mind

Joppová

2020

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“…9 See "Spinoza's Monism I," Section 3.2. 10 See Primus 2019, in which I argue that E1p21-23 can be read as supporting the conclusion that an infinite, eternal substance's effects can only be infinite and eternal modes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…35 See, for example, entries in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Newlands 2018a, Shein 2018. 36 For a detailed defense and reconstructions, seePrimus 2019.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spinoza’s Monism II: A Proposal

Primus

2021

Archiv Für Geschichte Der Philosophie

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An old question in Spinoza scholarship is how finite, non-eternal things transitively caused by other finite, non-eternal things (i. e., the entities described in propositions like E1p28) are caused by the infinite, eternal substance, given that what follows either directly or indirectly from the divine nature is infinite and eternal (E1p21–23). In “Spinoza’s Monism I,”<fnote>“Spinoza’s Monism I,” in the previous issue of this journal.</fnote> I pointed out that most commentators answer this question by invoking entities that are indefinite and sempiternal, but argued that perhaps we should not be so quick to assume that in Spinoza’s system, an infinite and eternal substance could cause such indefinite, sempiternal entities. But if such eternal-durational causation is denied, then it seems harder to see how Spinoza’s system could be coherent: if Spinoza holds that the infinite, eternal substance cannot cause anything that is not infinite and not eternal, then how can he also hold that all things are modes immanently caused by substance (E1p15, E1p18, E1p25)? In this essay, I explain how Spinoza’s system could be understood in light of a denial of eternal-durational causation. On the interpretation I offer, God is the cause of all things and all things are modes because the essences of all things follow from the divine nature and all essences enjoy infinite, eternal reality as modes immanently caused by the infinite, eternal substance. The same non-substantial essences can also be conceived as enjoying non-infinite, non-eternal reality, but so conceived, they are enduring, finite (or sempiternal, indefinite) entities that cannot be conceived as modes caused by and inhering in the one infinite, eternal substance. I conclude by pointing out that if we take this interpretive route, we do have to understand Spinoza as committed to acosmism, or a denial of the reality of the world – at least the world of enduring, finite things.

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“…36 36 I think that both the infinite, eternal reality of substance and the infinite, eternal reality of “infinite modes” should be understood as timeless, non‐enduring reality that, unlike finite reality, cannot be diminished, amplified, or explicated by duration or time (Primus (2019)). On my reading, then, neither the sempiternal individual composed of all finite bodies (E2lemma7s/G II.102, which means (Gebhardt 1925, vol.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Still, all things are modes because the essence of a finite, non‐eternal thing can be conceived to enjoy infinite, eternal reality, and so can be conceived as a mode immanently caused by and inhering in God. See Primus (2019) (forthcoming‐a), and (forthcoming‐b).…”

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confidence: 99%

Part V of Spinoza's Ethics: Intuitive knowledge, contentment of mind, and intellectual love of God

Primus

2022

Philosophy Compass

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In this article, I sketch a way of understanding three important doctrines from Spinoza's Ethics: intuitive knowledge (scientia intuitiva), contentment of mind (acquiescentia mentis), and intellectual love of God (amor Dei intellectualis). Along the way, I suggest how these doctrines could build on more familiar doctrines, including monism, necessitarianism, the parallelism of ideas and bodies, and the “ideas of ideas.”

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Spinoza’s ‘Infinite Modes’ Reconsidered

Cited by 10 publications

References 52 publications

The Three Final Doctrines of Spinoza: Intuition, Amor Dei, the Eternity of the Mind

The Three Final Doctrines of Spinoza: Intuition, Amor Dei, the Eternity of the Mind

Spinoza’s Monism II: A Proposal

Part V of Spinoza's Ethics: Intuitive knowledge, contentment of mind, and intellectual love of God

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