Spinoza's Philosophy Of God

St. Thomas Aquinas’s first cosmological argument, the prime mover, defines things in the world as being either in a state of potentiality or in a state of actuality. Those things that are in potentiality are things that have the capability of being reduced to another form. Such as a boy is potentially a man, or tree is potentially a house. Things that are in a state of actuality are things that are currently reaching their potential; such as that boy becoming a man, or that tree becoming that house. Aquinas observed that all things in a state of actuality had to have been put into that state by something that was already in actuality. In thinking about this he concluded that there would have to be an infinite regress of actual things making potential things actual. He concluded that this would be impossible because given that, there would be no first mover. He instead, postulated that there must be a first mover. A being that never had potential but only has existed in a state of infinite actuality. That what we call God.

God and this belief was reflected in the writings of the day. On the other hand, the concept of Rationalism

Both philosophers agree that God is the only infinite substance that does not depend on anything else. Spinoza sees God as the only infinite substance with several substances while Descartes indicates that God is the substance, in which we comprehend to be completely ideal, and fully independent. He also illustrates God as the substance that we conceive to be absolutely without any defect in its perfection.

Therefore, God must also exist in dimensions far beyond those of the visible world. Benedictus de Spinoza was much a pantheist, believing that God is identical to the universe as a whole.

It is God’s very transcendent nature that aims to keep Him inaccessible and remote from His creation. However, his immanent nature works to prompt Him near to His creation and to maintain the universe. It is God’s love for His creation that overshadows His transcendence, thus making it difficult to easily speak about God being transcendent and also related to the world. 2) The Protestant Reformation set the stage for the European Enlightenment by amending the beliefs and

     Spinoza’s staunch, pantheistic monist view of the world establishes that the mind and body are not separate entities in themselves, but only two of an infinite amount of attributes of the same and only substance in existence – God. One can relate this reasoning to two attributes of a red-hot poker – red and hot. Does this entail that red and hot are always dependent on a poker and that they are in essence the same thing? Although this is not a likely conclusion, Spinoza raises the important question of how far we can analytically separate parts of a world that are always interacting with each other. Try getting a metal poker to glow red without heating it, or heating a poker without eventually having it glow red. This is improbable, albeit possible in theory. The mind and body may be two separately identifiable things, but one will more than likely find the two cooperating with each other as attributes of the natural world.

He wanted to figure out how they functioned together. Spinoza accepted Descartes mathematical model for deducing knowledge. He defends, outside the intellect; there is nothing but substance and its modes or affections. Spinoza establishes the "Fact and manner of [a] divine causality" through careful mathematical deduction. Consequently, God's essence exists through His own active power and necessity. For this Spinoza was considered an atheist (Collins, 1967, p.83).

A standout amongst the most questionable, disputable topics has been the presence of god. There are various regular arguments for the presence of God. Descartes is one of many, he trusted in himself that he had affirmation of God's quality through an extraordinary examination of the mind. Descartes has more than one of many thoughts. To start Descartes ask "how would I know that I exist? As covered in my presentation Descartes wants to demonstrate that there is no evil spirit that is always deceiving him. Remembering the true objective to do this; he leaves to show that he has the unmistakable and a particular thought that God is incredible and can't along these lines mislead him. This is done by recommending the considerations can have more prominent reality. For Descartes Existence is conventional and those things that exist are more flawless or all the more awesome then those things that don't. Descartes suggests that there are three sorts of thoughts: Innate, Invented, and Adventitious. Innate thoughts are and have reliably been inside us, Fictitious or imagined contemplations begin from our imaginative energy , and Adventitious considerations start from experiences of the world. He contends that the possibility of God is Innate and set in us by God and he dismissed the likelihood that the possibility of God is Invented or Adventitious.

He believed in natural theology and thought that man could not understand God without God's assistance and guidance. The foundations of his proofs of God’s existence were based on his five basic beliefs about God. Aquinas wrote that God was: 1) simple as in having no parts, 2) perfect therefore lacking nothing, 3) infinite having no beginning and no end, 4) immutable as in never changing, and 5) one in essence and existence.

The concept of God is central to the development of Cartesian and Spinozan philosophy. Although both philosophers employ an ontological argument for the existence and necessity of God the specific nature of God differs greatly with each account. While Descartes suggests a Judeo-Christian concept of God, Spinoza argues a more monistic deity similar to that of the Hindu tradition. The most significant difference however, lies within the basis and structure of each argument itself. Considered from an analytical standpoint through the lens of Gotlobb Frege, Descartes' proof of God possesses both sense and reference and is therefore capable of expressing the

a) Christians believe many different things about God’s nature; due to the huge spectrum of Christians that there are. However, as a general rule they perceive God as being one of the following four things:

While Descartes sought, through the Meditations, to be certain of the truth of his own existence as a ‘thinking thing’ and then prove God’s existence, Spinoza turns Descartes’ argument on its axis. For Spinoza the argument that God exists as the only substance, because as a supremely perfect being he must necessarily exist is the basis of the Ethics.

"I conceive a supreme God, eternal, infinite, immutable, omnipotent, an the universal creator of all things that exist outside of himself." (39 lines 8-11 Descartes, Lafleur)

He specifically says he didn't draw it from his senses. He didn't make the idea of God he says the idea was imprinted on him. He makes the conclusion by stating, "Thus the only option remaining is that this idea is innate in me just as the idea of myself is innate in me." God imprints the innate idea of Him on us at birth and that is why we know of God. An example of this is how a craftsman imprints his signature on his work. Descartes says he gets innate ideas from God because God instills the idea of himself onto us, which is an innate idea.

Vast, all-knowing, creator, so much more. How do you define your God? The Father is so much more than human kind can grasp, therefor, being nearly impossible to fully define without using opinion and imagination. The knowledge of God is the largest piece of shared information among humans throughout time and space. I will explore my personal thoughts of God, humanity and Jesus, as well as reflect on Christian worldview.