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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<h1>Spinoza's <i>Ethics</i></h1>
<img src="images/spinoza.jpg" alt="A picture of Spinoza">
<p>In Book I of the Ethics, Spinoza explains the foundational terms of his <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza-modal/">metaphysics</a> and uses them to prove the nature of God. His first axiom is that "all things that are, are either in themselves or in something else." So, everything can be sorted into two categories:</p>
<ul>
<li> substance: "that which is in itself and is conceived through itself", Def. 3</li>
<li>mode: "that which is in something else and is conceived through something else", Def. 4</li>
</ul>
<p>Modes are in their substances, but substances aren't in their modes. Thus, substance is "prior" to its modes (Pr. 1).</p>
<p>The important third term is attribute, "that which the intellect perceives of substance as constituting its essence" (d4). Essence is what a thing is, at the most basic irreducible level (translator's preface, pg 22). Attributes (basic) and modes (dependent) are the only two ways to distinguish between two things (Pr. 4). From this fact, Spinoza proves that there cannot be two substances with the same attribute (Pr. 5). Proof by contradiction: If there were, then they would have to be distinguished by their attributes or their modes. But if they were distinguished by their modes, they wouldn't really be separate substances, since substance is prior to its modes (Pr. 1). So they must be distinguished by their attributes. Therefore, they must have different attributes.</p>
<p>Where do substances come from? According to Spinoza, they cannot come from other substances (pr. 6). This is because, for one thing to cause another, they must have something in common (Pr. 3). But we just proved that no two substances have anything in common. As a corollary, substances cannot come from anything other than themselves. Since substance is self-caused, "its essence necessarily involves existence" (Pr. 7).</p>
<p>Now we are ready to prove God's existence. God is "substance consisting of infinite attributes, each of which expresses eternal and infinite essence" (Pr. 11). Since God is a substance, and a substance's essence involves existence, it is impossible to conceive of a God that does not exist! The second proof follows from the axiom that everything must have a cause, either for its existence or nonexistence. There can be no reason for God's nonexistence because such a reason would have to be in God's nature or in another substance. Another substance can't have anything in common with God, so can't cause it's nonexistence. All that's left is God's own nature, which might have a contradiction in it. But God is perfect by definition, so it can't have a contradiction. Therefore, nothing can stop God from existing. Spinoza's third proof is similar to the traditional ontological proof: God is infinitely powerful, but nonexistence is a weakness, so God must exist. </p>
<p>Spinoza goes on to prove two things about the nature of God and the universe.</p>
<ol>
<li> God is the only substance (Pr. 14). This is because no two substances can have the same attribute, and God has all the attributes. In consequence, no substance outside God can even be conceived, since such a conception would prove its existence (by pretty much the same logic with which we proved God's existence).
<li> "Whatever is, is in God, and nothing can be or be conceived without God" (Pr. 15). Everything is either substance or mode. If the former, it has to be God. If the latter, it has to be conceived through a substance, which has to be God.
</ol>
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