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Single Idea 21858
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof
]
Full Idea
Spinoza argues that you cannot conceive the non-existence of God because you cannot conceive the non-existence of being. God, or a substance of infinite attributes, is being as such.
Gist of Idea
God is being as such, and you cannot conceive of the non-existence of being
Source
report of Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], I Pr 11) by Beth Lord - Spinoza's Ethics I P11
Book Ref
Lord,Beth: 'Spinoza's Ethics' [Indiana 2010], p.30
A Reaction
I'm not clear why I cannot conceive of nothing whatever existing. I can conceive of my fridge being empty, so conceiving non-being is not off limits. Not that inconceivability is an infallible guide to impossibility…
Related Idea
Idea 21856
Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist [Spinoza, by Lord]
The
220 ideas
from Baruch de Spinoza
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]
|
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]
|
4309
|
Spinoza argues that in reality the will and the intellect are 'one and the same'
[Spinoza, by Cottingham]
|
21807
|
Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
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]
|
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]
|
7835
|
The key question for Spinoza is: is his God really a God?
[Stewart,M on Spinoza]
|
7571
|
Spinoza's God is not a person
[Spinoza, by Jolley]
|
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]
|
7609
|
God is the sum and principle of all eternal laws
[Spinoza, by Armstrong,K]
|
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]
|
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]
|
21856
|
Spinoza says a substance of infinite attributes cannot fail to exist
[Spinoza, by Lord]
|
17172
|
God is a substance with infinite attributes
[Spinoza]
|
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]
|
17180
|
Everything is in God, and nothing exists or is thinkable without God
[Spinoza]
|
4821
|
An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other
[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]
|
17183
|
Things are impossible if they imply contradiction, or their production lacks an external cause
[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]
|
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]
|
4827
|
Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way
[Spinoza]
|
12731
|
Final causes are figments of human imagination
[Spinoza]
|
4826
|
Nature has no particular goal in view, and final causes are mere human figments
[Spinoza]
|
21859
|
God has no purpose, because God lacks nothing
[Spinoza]
|
17185
|
Mathematics deals with the essences and properties of forms
[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]
|
4840
|
Reason perceives things under a certain form of eternity
[Spinoza]
|
17194
|
Reason only explains what is universal, so it is timeless, 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]
|
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]
|
4843
|
Would we die if we lacked free will, and were poised between equal foods? Yes!
[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]
|
17208
|
A horse would be destroyed if it were changed into a man or an insect
[Spinoza]
|
17207
|
By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature
[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]
|
21871
|
The more we strive for our own advantage, the more virtuous we are
[Spinoza]
|
4854
|
It is impossible that the necessity of a person's nature should produce a desire for non-existence
[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]
|
4855
|
If people are obedient to reason, they will live in harmony
[Spinoza]
|
4856
|
To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature
[Spinoza]
|
21873
|
Men only agree in nature if they are guided by reason
[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]
|
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]
|
4857
|
Pity is a bad and useless thing, as it is a pain, and rational people perform good deeds without it
[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]
|
13073
|
To understand the properties we must know the essence, as with a circle
[Spinoza]
|
16541
|
All the intrinsic properties of a thing should be deducible from its definition
[Spinoza]
|
7827
|
Spinoza wanted democracy based on individual rights, and is thus the first modern political philosopher
[Stewart,M on Spinoza]
|
7487
|
Society exists to extend human awareness
[Spinoza, by Watson]
|
4300
|
The Bible has nothing in common with reasoning and philosophy
[Spinoza]
|
19914
|
In nature everything has an absolute right to do anything it is capable of doing
[Spinoza]
|
19915
|
Natural rights are determined by desire and power, not by reason
[Spinoza]
|
19916
|
The order of nature does not prohibit anything, and allows whatever appetite produces
[Spinoza]
|
19918
|
Forming a society meant following reason, and giving up dangerous appetites and mutual harm
[Spinoza]
|
19917
|
Without reason and human help, human life is misery
[Spinoza]
|
19919
|
People only give up their rights, and keep promises, if they hope for some greater good
[Spinoza]
|
19921
|
Once you have given up your rights, there is no going back
[Spinoza]
|
19920
|
Democracy is a legitimate gathering of people who do whatever they can do
[Spinoza]
|
19923
|
Slavery is not just obedience, but acting only in the interests of the master
[Spinoza]
|
19924
|
The freest state is a rational one, where people can submit themselves to reason
[Spinoza]
|
19922
|
People are only free if they are guided entirely by reason
[Spinoza]
|
19925
|
In democracy we don't abandon our rights, but transfer them to the majority of us
[Spinoza]
|
19926
|
The sovereignty has absolute power over citizens
[Spinoza]
|
19927
|
State and religious law can clash, so the state must make decisions about religion
[Spinoza]
|
19929
|
Everyone who gives up their rights must fear the recipients of them
[Spinoza]
|
19928
|
No one, in giving up their power and right, ceases to be a human being
[Spinoza]
|
19930
|
Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it
[Spinoza]
|
19931
|
Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies
[Spinoza]
|
19932
|
The early Hebrews, following Moses, gave up their rights to God alone
[Spinoza]
|
19933
|
If religion is law, then piety is justice, impiety is crime, and non-believers must leave
[Spinoza]
|
19934
|
Hebrews were very hostile to other states, who had not given up their rights to God
[Spinoza]
|
19935
|
Peoples are created by individuals, not by nature, and only distinguished by language and law
[Spinoza]
|
19937
|
Monarchs are always proud, and can't back down
[Spinoza]
|
19936
|
Kings tend to fight wars for glory, rather than for peace and liberty
[Spinoza]
|
19938
|
Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties
[Spinoza]
|
19939
|
Government is oppressive if opinions can be crimes, because people can't give them up
[Spinoza]
|
19940
|
Deposing a monarch is dangerous, because the people are used to royal authority
[Spinoza]
|
19942
|
Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds
[Spinoza]
|
19943
|
The state aims to allow personal development, so its main purpose is freedom
[Spinoza]
|
19944
|
Without liberty of thought there is no trust in the state, and corruption follows
[Spinoza]
|
7830
|
A talking triangle would say God is triangular
[Spinoza]
|
7829
|
God no more has human perfections than we have animal perfections
[Spinoza]
|
4869
|
Experience does not teach us any essences of things
[Spinoza]
|
4870
|
The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible
[Spinoza]
|
4866
|
God is a being with infinite attributes, each of them infinite or perfect
[Spinoza]
|
4867
|
Whether nature is beautiful or orderly is entirely in relation to human imagination
[Spinoza]
|
4868
|
Trying to prove God's existence through miracles is proving the obscure by the more obscure
[Spinoza]
|
4871
|
A thing is free if it acts only by the necessity of its own nature
[Spinoza]
|