Single Idea 4852

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism]

Full Idea

The foundation of virtue is the endeavour to preserve one's own being, and happiness consists in man's power of preserving his own being.

Gist of Idea

Both virtue and happiness are based on the preservation of one's own being

Source

Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IV Pr 18)

Book Reference

Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics, Improvement of Understanding, Letters', ed/tr. Elwes,R [Dover 1955], p.201


A Reaction

Spinoza never actually says so, but this seems to me to point to a Hobbesian social contract account of virtue - that is, that virtue is not an ideal, but a strategy. Personally I prefer the Aristotelian view, that it is an ideal revealed to us by nature.