PH 202 Lecture 11: Notes for Day 11

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Notes for Day 11
Spinoza:
Beruk Spinoza (1602-1637)
Spinoza knows Descartes writing very well
Was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam before he published the ethics
His philosophical views are radical
Substance "Concerning God"
Accused of being a pantheist--the view that God is everything or everything is God
Not surprising based on the part of the ethics that we read
He met Leibniz after being excommunicated
Spinoza was a lens grinder
He died at a very young age
Speculation about his death: some people think that he was poisoned by individuals who were upset
with his views
Others believe that his job could have caused his death: the grinding of the lenses might have caused
him to breath in harsh chemicals (the power of ground glass to poison you)
Spinoza, like David Hume, was writing material about substance in a book called "the Ethics"
His concern was with how we should live our life and the concept of morality
In order to understand morality, you must understand the nature of reality (metaphysics) and
knowledge)
In order to understand ethics, you must understand math
Elizabeth wanted to understand the connection between the mind and the body because they are
separate distinct substances, as Descartes discussed; they don't need each other to exist; How is it
possible for there to be interactions between the two substances? She also questioned how separate
substances besides the mind and the body could also interact with each other?
Descartes claimed that there is interaction, but it is unexplainable
Talks about substances, attributes, and modes
He does criticize Descartes on his substance ontology theory-->Substances independent of everything
else and created substances: God (infinite) and the mind and body (finite)
To Spinoza, created substances should not be considered finite, it doesn't make any sense
Page 217 of the Ethics Part 1: a thing is said to be finite in its own kind when it can be limited by another
thing in the same nature; by substance, I mean that which is in itself and conceived through itself
(independently existing thing that can be perceived by itself)
We can't perceive created substances, they don't exist independently, they are conceived by something
else, it has boundaries, it is limited, it can't extend itself--> always refer to what is on the other side of
that boundary
If something has a boundary, there is something on the other side that can explain how it was created
Therefore, a finite substance is considered incoherent
Infinite substances are limited and boundary less
To Spinoza, there are only infinite substances, no finite substance
To Spinoza there is only going to be one substance which is infinite
Think about the brain: it has parts that depend upon something that allows them to work
A physical body is composed of many parts that need to stay together in order to function properly
We depend on the cooperativeness of those parts
There is something that is the basic building block
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