Spinoza Essay

the interplay of emotions and rationality in the decision making process (Lowenstein & Lerner, 2003; Damasio, 1988 & 1994 just to name a few). In order to address this question, I decided to turn to one of the greatest thinkers of Western thought: Spinoza. Re-reading the 4th part of his magnum-opos Ethics, which carries the title “Of Human Bondage or the strength of emotions”, I could not but think of some central aspects of Kahneman & Tversky’s work on heuristics, bias, framing effects and prospect

The stance that Spinoza has on substance is that there is only one substance, out of which all else is somehow constituated. Substance for the Stoics, is also seen as a monist philosophy. Because Stoics think of “the world as a unitary system that contains all beings” they should be considered substance monism. This is often cited as the clearest example of how Spinoza was most influenced by Stoic philosophy. However, Spinoza states that there is only one substance, but further from that, he unambiguously

Beyond criticizing the Bible, Spinoza also condemned governmental authorities which sought to control the masses through doctrines and strict laws. He believed that that governments which oppressed the use of reason and propagated doctrines aimed toward controlling the morals and values of society were destructive to the perseverance of reason and humanity. In particular he condemned the Christian church and the influence it had upon politics and society as a whole. He advocated for a strict separation

Shania P KBCC PHI72 Pro. Bruno Spinoza & Freedom When it comes to all philosophers around the world they all make you engage your mind and thoughts differently about life and the world we live in, their definition of the truth varies. Spinoza was a 17th century philosopher who believed in god in a more natural sense. He believed that God and nature where the same person and everything that exists in and out of this universe comes from one substance. Spinoza makes us rethink the saying that all

mind and the body were by no means two distinct substances and that they are simply attributes of a greater entity. In fact, Spinoza downplays the importance of attempting to create a distinction between the mind and the body especially with reference to emotions. Instead, he emphasizes the idea that emotions are either passive or active. As stated in the selection Spinoza believes in reference to emotions that “we are active when something takes place within us or out of us, of which we are the

Spinoza vs. Descartes Throughout the course of history many philosophers developed similar ideas or opposing ideas that were meant to disprove other philosophers' beliefs. These philosophers and the principles which built up their beliefs, whether based on rationalism or empiricism, asked and answered the tough, thought-provoking questions regarding life, God, and existence. The ideas of Descartes and Spinoza will be discussed and analyzed in order to figure out which of the two philosophies is

complicated manner, but Spinoza tried to answer this question in an exceptional way simply by describing God and His essence. Based on Spinoza’s views, God’s qualities can be referred to as attributes and modes are merely affections of a substance. This paper will provide a detailed view of Spinoza’s key ontological definition of God as the only substance, his attributes, and their co-relations. The study goes further to explore the major scholarly argument between Spinoza and Descartes, in regard

to Descartes and Spinoza, who are both adamant that their views provide the correct context and insight on their opinions of God. In Readings in Modern Philosophy by Ariew and Watkins, it is revealed that while both philosophers tend to agree on opinions like God being infinite, there are many reasons why Descartes and Spinoza disagree on the nature of God and their opinion of substance, for example, Descartes believes that there is more than one type of substance, while Spinoza argues that God is

that a sage person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions —Spinoza believed all things are logically determined. To clarify further, since each man's particular essence is directly tied to his fate—the time and place of his existence—ethical standards cannot be absolute. Rather, they are relative to the individual's mind and body or his/her culture. In addition to those, Spinoza thought that happiness comes from understanding limits and accepting a determined fate within

enlightenment are rationalism, the discoverability of the laws of human society, and the never ending improvement of human civilization. The three characteristics of the Enlightenment are best represented through the three figures of John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, and Benjamin Franklin. John Locke. Spinoza’s Ethics shows the ability of the natural laws to be applied to human society to create a theory on the workings of the laws of human society and supported the belief that mankind will rise with the discovery