Spinoza, What a Guy

Spinoza born in 1632 died from possibly lung cancer in 1677 from the dust in which he made eyeglasses for a living. His true name was Baruch, but these two ideas were not essential to the legacy of Spinoza.

The philosophers of Aristotle, Descartes, and Spinoza had very diverse ideas on the topic of substances. Aristotle believed that there were many substances. That everything exists as a separate substance. Descartes believed that there were two major substances. He believed that there is a material substance and a mental substance. Material substance, meaning everything is just a different version of the material. The second substance is mental substances, having to do with everything inside the brain. So Aristotle believed in many substances, Descartes two, and now comes Spinoza who only believed that there is one substance. He believed that everything is just composed of energy and matter.

Spinoza believed that the universe can be compared to a tapestry (A heavy cloth woven with rich, often varicolored designs or scenes, usually hung on walls for decoration and sometimes used to cover furniture). He goes on to say that like a tapestry, everything in the universe is connected.

Spinoza was rejected during his time and the community in the 1660s. People during his time thought that our world was the only thing. They believed that our way of thinking was the only way. Spinoza said our minds are small and this is why we cannot comprehend any other ways of intellect. Our belief cannot ever be absolute. Spinoza then says that the more you know about the universe and that more you know the better understanding you have about how the tapestry applies.

Spinoza claims that the universe and Nature is God. Spinoza on page 257 says, ”Individual person are finite modes of substance. Man is not a special creation of a treatment Deity. Man, along with everything else, is a part of Nature and the product of casual laws. In the sense we can say that, along with pebbles, thunderstorms, roses, stars, apes, ect., man is part of God. For God is Natur.” Many philosophers before him say that the universe had to have a cause and that cause would be God. Spinoza raises the question, “Why can’t the universe just exist?” His believe that God is the universe is defined as pantheism.

The development of the “mode scale” rooted from Spinoza. He thought up a scale that included (in order) “stuff” like: rocks, ameba, toads, deer, chimps, and then finally humans. Even humans have a secondary mode; some humans who are more advanced in thought are higher on the scale. The higher on the scale the more the entity is its own causal agent. For example, a rock is not in control of its life. Then moving up the scale, ameba has a hint of control in its life. Continuing up the scale the higher you go the more control on life.