Ethics

In a broad sense, these terms refer to what happens when something undergoes a change. More specifically, Spinoza uses “affection” to refer to human feelings and emotions, which he conceives as changes that happen to us; affections in this sense are the subject of Part 3. Spinoza also uses affection to mean an accidental property of a thing.

An attribute is an essential quality pertaining to something—e.g., God’s essence is infinite and all powerful. As Spinoza explains it, attribute is “what the intellect perceives of a substance, as constituting its essence” (1).

After the definitions that begin each part of the Ethics, Spinoza states a series of axioms, each numbered and preceded by the letter A. Per Merriam-Webster, an axiom is “a self-evident truth that requires no proof,” “a universally accepted principle or rule,” or (perhaps most relevant to the Ethics) “a proposition in logic or mathematics that is assumed without proof for the sake of studying the consequences that follow from it.” Building upon the definitions, the axioms state universal laws or truths from which Spinoza draws his own conclusions.

To be contingent is to be uncertain, possible, conditional; to be capable of happening or not happening. Spinoza claims that nothing in nature is contingent but rather that all things are necessary. Everything is predetermined by God’s eternal nature and could not be any other way. In Spinoza’s philosophy, realizing this is a major step toward wisdom.

Each part of the Ethics features a series of definitions, each numbered and preceded by the letter D. These consist of explanations of terms and concepts that Spinoza uses in his discussion. The definitions alert readers to a set of assumed meanings in the text. The definitions are followed by a series of axioms.

The demonstrations come after the definitions, axioms, and propositions laid out in each part of the text. Through them, Spinoza proves or explains logically why the proposition is true. The demonstrations are signified by the abbreviation “Dem.”

Spinoza frequently includes subsections within the demonstrations. These include scholiums, or explanatory notes intended to illustrate or amplify a point that was just made. In the text these are signified by the abbreviation “Schol.” or the letter S. Another of these subsections are correlatives, or statements that support or complement a preceding statement, signified by the abbreviation “Cor.” or the letter C. Spinoza frequently refers back to previous parts and sections in a shorthand form. Thus, “IIP17C” means “Part 2, Proposition 17, Correlative.”

“God or nature.” As it does throughout the Ethics where it is set in italics, the “or” indicates equivalence rather than an alternative. The phrase appears in Part 4, among other places. It has gone down in history as emblematic of pantheism, or belief in a God that pervades all of nature rather than a God who created nature out of nothing.

Essence is the defining nature of a thing. In Spinoza’s words, “what the thing can neither be nor be conceived without, and vice versa, what can neither be nor be conceived without the thing” (38).

Spinoza characterizes God as infinite and human beings as finite. To be infinite is to be unlimited and free; to be finite is to be limited and determined. For Spinoza’s discussion of why God as substance is necessarily infinite, see Part 1 of the Ethics.

Since God is the only substance that exists, Spinoza posits that all other things are modes, or modifications, or affections (things acted upon or affected by) God. Mode is “that which is in another through which it is also conceived” (1). Spinoza believes that all things are in God, expressing his infinite essence.

This pair of Latin mottoes goes back to medieval philosophy. Literally, natura naturans means “nature naturing,” and natura naturata means “nature natured.” Spinoza uses these terms to denote two different ways of looking at nature. Natura naturans means the self-causing activity of nature (identified with God), while natura naturata means nature as the passive result of a chain of causes—i.e., all that follows from God’s infinite essence. Spinoza discusses this in Part 1.

“Under the aspect of eternity.” In his epistemology (meaning theory of knowledge), Spinoza distinguishes between a knowledge of things as they exist at a particular time and place and a knowledge of things as they exist eternally in the order of nature. This latter form of knowledge is the third kind of knowledge, or intuition. It consists of seeing things not as they relate to individual times and circumstances but “under the aspect of eternity,” as they relate to God’s eternal nature. Today, the phrase is often used to describe seeing things from a timeless, eternal perspective.

Substance is something self-caused and self-explained that does not depend on anything else for its existence. In Spinoza’s terms, substance is “what is in itself and is conceived through itself, that is, that whose concept does not require the concept of another thing, from which it must be formed” (1). Spinoza argues that God is the sole substance in the universe because he simply exists, without being caused by anything else.