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Single Idea 17212
[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness
]
Full Idea
To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind.
Gist of Idea
To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IV Pr 28)
Book Ref
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.182
A Reaction
A possible epigraph for this website. Perhaps it should be required by law that this be printed on the frontispiece of every philosophy book ever published.
Related Idea
Idea 17211
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind [Spinoza]
The
177 ideas
from 'The Ethics'
8019
|
Along with his pantheism, Spinoza equates ethics with the study of human nature
[Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
|
7833
|
Spinoza names self-interest as the sole source of value
[Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
|
7571
|
Spinoza's God is not a person
[Spinoza, by Jolley]
|
8020
|
Only self-knowledge can liberate us
[Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
|
7412
|
Spinoza extended Hobbes's natural rights to cover all possible desires and actions
[Spinoza, by Tuck]
|
1587
|
Spinoza strongly attacked teleology, which is the lifeblood of classical logos
[Roochnik on Spinoza]
|
1588
|
For Spinoza eyes don't act for purposes, but follow mechanical necessity
[Roochnik on Spinoza]
|
4314
|
God is wholly without passions, and strictly speaking does not love anyone
[Spinoza, by Cottingham]
|
12928
|
Spinoza's God is just power and necessity, without perfection or wisdom
[Leibniz on Spinoza]
|
7836
|
In Spinoza, one could substitute 'nature' or 'substance' for the word 'God' throughout
[Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
|
7831
|
Spinoza's theory of mind implies that there is no immortality
[Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
|
8018
|
Spinoza's life shows that love of truth which he proclaims as the highest value
[MacIntyre on Spinoza]
|
5641
|
For Spinoza, 'adequacy' is the intrinsic mark of truth
[Spinoza, by Scruton]
|
5639
|
Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance
[Spinoza, by Scruton]
|
4299
|
Contingency is an illusion, resulting from our inadequate understanding
[Spinoza, by Cottingham]
|
5640
|
Spinoza's three levels of knowledge are perception/imagination, then principles, then intuitions
[Spinoza, by Scruton]
|
5638
|
'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person
[Spinoza, by Scruton]
|
7835
|
The key question for Spinoza is: is his God really a God?
[Stewart,M on Spinoza]
|
7609
|
God is the sum and principle of all eternal laws
[Spinoza, by Armstrong,K]
|
4312
|
To understand a phenomenon, we must understand why it is necessary, not merely contingent
[Spinoza, by Cottingham]
|
4311
|
We think we are free because we don't know the causes of our desires and choices
[Spinoza]
|
4308
|
Mind and body are one thing, seen sometimes as thought and sometimes as extension
[Spinoza]
|
23951
|
Emotion is a modification of bodily energy, controlling our actions
[Spinoza]
|
7832
|
Stoics want to suppress emotions, but Spinoza overcomes them with higher emotions
[Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
|
21807
|
Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
4309
|
Spinoza argues that in reality the will and the intellect are 'one and the same'
[Spinoza, by Cottingham]
|
12757
|
That God is the substance of all things is an ill-reputed doctrine
[Leibniz on Spinoza]
|
4815
|
From a definite cause an effect necessarily follows
[Spinoza]
|
4816
|
A true idea must correspond with its ideate or object
[Spinoza]
|
4817
|
If a thing can be conceived as non-existing, its essence does not involve existence
[Spinoza]
|
17169
|
Some things makes me conceive of it as a thing whose essence requires its existence
[Spinoza]
|
4813
|
Substance is that of which an independent conception can be formed
[Spinoza]
|
17170
|
An 'attribute' is what the intellect takes as constituting an essence
[Spinoza]
|
17171
|
A 'mode' is an aspect of a substance, and conceived through that substance
[Spinoza]
|
17172
|
God is a substance with infinite attributes
[Spinoza]
|
21856
|
Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
4814
|
A thing is free if it acts by necessity of its own nature, and the act is determined by itself alone
[Spinoza]
|
17173
|
Two substances can't be the same if they have different attributes
[Spinoza]
|
17174
|
Outside the mind, there are just things and their properties
[Spinoza]
|
17175
|
There cannot be two substances with the same attributes
[Spinoza]
|
21857
|
Substance is the power of self-actualisation
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
4818
|
People who are ignorant of true causes imagine anything can change into anything else
[Spinoza]
|
4819
|
There is necessarily for each existent thing a cause why it should exist
[Spinoza]
|
17176
|
The more reality a thing has, the more attributes it has
[Spinoza]
|
17177
|
In nature there is just one infinite substance
[Spinoza]
|
17178
|
Denial of God is denial that his essence involves existence, which is absurd
[Spinoza]
|
21858
|
God is being as such, and you cannot conceive of the non-existence of being
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
4820
|
God must necessarily exist, because no reason can be given for his non-existence
[Spinoza]
|
17179
|
There must always be a reason or cause why some triangle does or does not exist
[Spinoza]
|
4821
|
An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other
[Spinoza]
|
17180
|
Everything is in God, and nothing exists or is thinkable without God
[Spinoza]
|
17181
|
God is the efficient cause of essences, as well as of existences
[Spinoza]
|
4822
|
Divine nature makes all existence and operations necessary, and nothing is contingent
[Spinoza]
|
4823
|
God does not act according to the freedom of the will
[Spinoza]
|
21802
|
An act of will can only occur if it has been caused, which implies a regress of causes
[Spinoza]
|
7828
|
The actual world is the only one God could have created
[Spinoza]
|
4824
|
We only call things 'contingent' in relation to the imperfection of our knowledge
[Spinoza]
|
17182
|
Necessity is in reference to essence or to cause
[Spinoza]
|
17183
|
Things are impossible if they imply contradiction, or their production lacks an external cause
[Spinoza]
|
4825
|
To say that God promotes what is good is false, as it sets up a goal beyond God
[Spinoza]
|
17184
|
All natures of things produce some effect
[Spinoza]
|
17186
|
Men say they prefer order, not realising that we imagine the order
[Spinoza]
|
17185
|
Mathematics deals with the essences and properties of forms
[Spinoza]
|
12731
|
Final causes are figments of human imagination
[Spinoza]
|
21859
|
God has no purpose, because God lacks nothing
[Spinoza]
|
4827
|
Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way
[Spinoza]
|
4826
|
Nature has no particular goal in view, and final causes are mere human figments
[Spinoza]
|
17187
|
Essence gives existence and conception to things, and is inseparable from them
[Spinoza]
|
4830
|
An 'idea' is a mental conception which is actively formed by the mind in thinking
[Spinoza]
|
17188
|
A thing is unified if its parts produce a single effect
[Spinoza]
|
17190
|
We can easily think of nature as one individual
[Spinoza]
|
21860
|
Ideas and things have identical connections and order
[Spinoza]
|
17189
|
The essence of man is modifications of the nature of God
[Spinoza]
|
4828
|
The essence of a thing is what is required for it to exist or be conceived
[Spinoza]
|
4829
|
The human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God
[Spinoza]
|
21805
|
Spinoza held that the mind is just a bundle of ideas
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
4831
|
If the body is affected by an external object, the mind can't help believing that the object exists
[Spinoza]
|
20310
|
Error does not result from imagining, but from lacking the evidence of impossibility
[Spinoza]
|
4832
|
If the body is affected by two things together, the imagining of one will conjure up the other
[Spinoza]
|
4833
|
The human mind is the very idea or knowledge of the human body
[Spinoza]
|
4835
|
Anyone who knows, must know that they know, and even know that they know that they know..
[Spinoza]
|
4834
|
Mind and body are the same thing, sometimes seen as thought, and sometimes as extension
[Spinoza]
|
21861
|
Self-knowledge needs perception of the affections of the body
[Spinoza]
|
4836
|
The mind only knows itself by means of ideas of the modification of the body
[Spinoza]
|
20308
|
Encounters with things confuse the mind, and internal comparisons bring clarity
[Spinoza]
|
4837
|
'Free will' is a misunderstanding arising from awareness of our actions, but ignorance of their causes
[Spinoza]
|
4838
|
Claiming that actions depend on the will is meaningless; no one knows what the will is
[Spinoza]
|
17191
|
Nothing is essential if it is in every part, and is common to everything
[Spinoza]
|
17192
|
The 'universal' term 'man' is just imagining whatever is the same in a multitude of men
[Spinoza]
|
20309
|
If our ideas are adequate, what follows from them is also adequate
[Spinoza]
|
17193
|
True ideas intrinsically involve the highest degree of certainty
[Spinoza]
|
21863
|
You only know you are certain of something when you actually are certain of it
[Spinoza]
|
21864
|
Truth is its own standard
[Spinoza]
|
17194
|
Reason only explains what is universal, so it is timeless, under a certain form of eternity
[Spinoza]
|
4840
|
Reason perceives things under a certain form of eternity
[Spinoza]
|
4839
|
Reason naturally regards things as necessary, and only imagination considers them contingent
[Spinoza]
|
17195
|
Things persevere through a force which derives from God
[Spinoza]
|
4841
|
People make calculation mistakes by misjudging the figures, not calculating them wrongly
[Spinoza]
|
4842
|
Ideas are not images formed in the brain, but are the conceptions of thought
[Spinoza]
|
17196
|
The will is not a desire, but the faculty of affirming what is true or false
[Spinoza]
|
21804
|
Faculties are either fictions, or the abstract universals of ideas
[Spinoza]
|
4843
|
Would we die if we lacked free will, and were poised between equal foods? Yes!
[Spinoza]
|
17198
|
Will and intellect are the same thing
[Spinoza]
|
17201
|
The will is finite, but the intellect is infinite
[Spinoza]
|
17199
|
A man who assents without doubt to a falsehood is not certain, but lacks a cause to make him waver
[Spinoza]
|
17197
|
The idea of a triangle involves truths about it, so those are part of its essence
[Spinoza]
|
17200
|
We must be careful to keep words distinct from ideas and images
[Spinoza]
|
20311
|
An idea involves affirmation or negation
[Spinoza]
|
21801
|
Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
20127
|
Laws of nature are universal, so everything must be understood through those laws
[Spinoza]
|
17202
|
We are the source of an action if only our nature can explain the action
[Spinoza]
|
20305
|
Whenever we act, then desire is our very essence
[Spinoza]
|
21865
|
We act when it follows from our nature, and is understood in that way
[Spinoza]
|
23990
|
The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain, and desire
[Spinoza, by Goldie]
|
17203
|
Minds are subject to passions if they have inadequate ideas
[Spinoza]
|
4844
|
The mind is not free to remember or forget anything
[Spinoza]
|
17204
|
Animals are often observed to be wiser than people
[Spinoza]
|
17205
|
Only an external cause can destroy something
[Spinoza]
|
20307
|
As far as possible, everything tries to persevere
[Spinoza]
|
17206
|
The essence of a thing is its effort to persevere
[Spinoza]
|
4845
|
We don't want things because they are good; we judge things to be good because we want them
[Spinoza]
|
21803
|
The conatus (striving) of mind and body together is appetite, which is the essence of man
[Spinoza]
|
4846
|
We are incapable of formulating an idea which excludes the existence of our body
[Spinoza]
|
4847
|
Pleasure is a passive state in which the mind increases in perfection
[Spinoza]
|
4848
|
Love is nothing else but pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause
[Spinoza]
|
21868
|
We love or hate people more strongly because we think they are free
[Spinoza]
|
20306
|
Once we have experienced two feelings together, one will always give rise to the other
[Spinoza]
|
4849
|
The three primary emotions are pleasure, pain and desire
[Spinoza]
|
17207
|
By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature
[Spinoza]
|
17208
|
A horse would be destroyed if it were changed into a man or an insect
[Spinoza]
|
21870
|
Music is good for a melancholic, bad for a mourner, and indifferent to the deaf
[Spinoza]
|
4850
|
A final cause is simply a human desire
[Spinoza]
|
17209
|
A thing is contingent if nothing in its essence determines whether or not it exists
[Spinoza]
|
21869
|
Our own force of persevering is nothing in comparison with external forces
[Spinoza]
|
4851
|
Reason demands nothing contrary to nature, and so it demands self-love
[Spinoza]
|
4852
|
Both virtue and happiness are based on the preservation of one's own being
[Spinoza]
|
4853
|
Rational people are self-interested, but also desire the same goods for other people
[Spinoza]
|
21874
|
The ideal for human preservation is unanimity among people
[Spinoza]
|
4854
|
It is impossible that the necessity of a person's nature should produce a desire for non-existence
[Spinoza]
|
21871
|
The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are
[Spinoza]
|
17210
|
All virtue is founded on self-preservation
[Spinoza]
|
21872
|
We seek our own advantage, and virtue is doing this rationally
[Spinoza]
|
17211
|
Understanding is the sole aim of reason, and the only profit for the mind
[Spinoza]
|
17212
|
To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind
[Spinoza]
|
19435
|
God is not loveable for producing without choice and by necessity; God is loveable for his goodness
[Leibniz on Spinoza]
|
17213
|
In so far as men live according to reason, they will agree with one another
[Spinoza]
|
21873
|
Men only agree in nature if they are guided by reason
[Spinoza]
|
4856
|
To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature
[Spinoza]
|
4855
|
If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony
[Spinoza]
|
17214
|
To act virtuously is to act rationally
[Spinoza]
|
17215
|
Animals feel, but that doesn't mean we can't use them for our pleasure and profit
[Spinoza]
|
17216
|
The poet who forgot his own tragedies was no longer the same man
[Spinoza]
|
17217
|
Love is joy with an external cause
[Spinoza]
|
4857
|
Pity is a bad and useless thing, as it is a pain, and rational people perform good deeds without it
[Spinoza]
|
17218
|
People who live according to reason should avoid pity
[Spinoza]
|
17219
|
A person unmoved by either reason or pity to help others is rightly called 'inhuman'
[Spinoza]
|
4858
|
A rational person will want others to have the goods he seeks for himself
[Spinoza]
|
17220
|
Self-satisfaction is the highest thing for which we can hope
[Spinoza]
|
17221
|
A man ignorant of himself is ignorant of all of the virtues
[Spinoza]
|
17222
|
The sum of its angles follows from a triangle's nature
[Spinoza]
|
17223
|
Pity is not a virtue, but at least it shows a desire to live uprightly
[Spinoza]
|
4859
|
Pleasure is only bad in so far as it hinders a man's capability for action
[Spinoza]
|
17224
|
If our ideas were wholly adequate, we would have no concept of evil
[Spinoza]
|
21875
|
The wisdom of a free man is a meditation on life, not on death
[Spinoza]
|
17225
|
In a free man, choosing flight can show as much strength of mind as fighting
[Spinoza]
|
4860
|
Man's highest happiness consists of perfecting his understanding, or reason
[Spinoza]
|
17226
|
The best use of talent is to teach other people to live rationally
[Spinoza]
|
17227
|
Slavery is a disgraceful crime
[Spinoza]
|
17228
|
Rational people judge money by needs, and live contented with very little
[Spinoza]
|
4863
|
An emotion comes more under our control in proportion to how well it is known to us
[Spinoza]
|
17229
|
If infancy in humans was very rare, we would consider it a pitiful natural defect
[Spinoza]
|
4864
|
An emotion is only bad if it hinders us from thinking
[Spinoza]
|
17230
|
If we are not wholly wise, we should live by good rules and maxims
[Spinoza]
|
17231
|
God feels no emotions, of joy or sorrow
[Spinoza]
|
21876
|
After death, something eternal remains of the mind
[Spinoza]
|
4865
|
The eyes of the mind are proofs
[Spinoza]
|
16198
|
Knowledge is the essence of the mind
[Spinoza]
|