POST 5: SPINOZA

Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 23:30:18

spinoza's ethical theory is based on some concepts that are not quite so different than other philosophers that we have so far read. like augustine and some others, he also claims material happiness such as riches, fame, and pleasure cause the mind to be "disturbed and dulled." spinoza also takes stance on defining good and evil; he claims that happiness is dependent upon the "quality of the object," and the highest level of happiness can only be obtained through "love towards a thing eternal and infinite," since such a love "feeds the mind wholly." unlike other philosophers, however, spinoza's take on the idea of free will is rather different; not that he claims that human beings possess no free will, but he claims that true freedom is "action in accordance with the laws of our reason." in his doctrine, having admitted that god is the supreme being, spinoza claims that "our highest happiness and blessedness is... solely in the knowledge of god," thus claiming that even without the established notion of free will (that human beings are in control of their own actions), true happiness can be obtained.

the main idea in spinoza's theory is the idea that human beings strive to preserve oneself and to reach perfection; things that helps human beings become "more perfect" cause happiness and are called "good" while things that make human beings become "less perfect" cause unhappiness and are therefore called "evil." by generalizing that every human beings strive to preserve oneself, spinoza continues on to claim that they then should follow "nature's general laws." in other words, human behaviors to spinoza are completely deterministic. for spinoza, "nothing comes to pass in nature." it is almost as if nature is spinoza's definition of god, as he continues on by claiming that in terms of laws and ordinances, "nature is always the same." from this, he concludes that "there should be one and the same method of understanding the nature of all things whatsoever." from his assumption that nature is the same, spinoza claims that since there are laws governing nature, then there should be laws that govern human behaviors as well; thus, human behaviors are deterministic.

another philosopher that is quite close in terms of concept to spinoza would be aristotle. while aristotle does not believe in such a thing as a supreme being, nor talks about free will, aristotle highly regards reasoning, and claims that true happiness can only be obtained if human beings apply rational reasonings to their actions. although unclear in spinoza's theory, spinoza also regards reasons as being essential in reaching happiness. in his argument regarding free will, he claims that true freedom is obtained when our actions are "in accordance with the laws of our reasons." spinoza's view on reasons is similar to that of aristotle, although aristotle's theory is geared more toward the concept of human beings determining their own actions while spinoza's theory is more toward the concept that human behavior is deterministic.