more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Man acts absolutely according to the laws of his nature, when he lives in obedience to reason.
Gist of Idea
To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IV Pr 35)
Book Ref
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics, Improvement of Understanding, Letters', ed/tr. Elwes,R [Dover 1955], p.210
A Reaction
This is pure stoicism, and shows that Spinoza is in many ways the culmination of the seventeenth century stoic revival (e.g. in the art of Poussin). I love the idea that right reason and nature are in perfect harmony. I wonder why?
| 6013 | Panaetius said we should live according to our natural starting-points [Panaetius, by Asmis] |
| 13318 | Nature doesn't give us virtue; we must unremittingly pursue it, as a training and an art [Seneca] |
| 13324 | Living contrary to nature is like rowing against the stream [Seneca] |
| 3069 | The art of life is more like the wrestler's than the dancer's [Aurelius] |
| 4856 | To live according to reason is to live according to the laws of human nature [Spinoza] |
| 4493 | Be natural! But how, if one happens to be "unnatural"? [Nietzsche] |
| 4494 | Not "return to nature", for there has never yet been a natural humanity [Nietzsche] |
| 4498 | 'Love your enemy' is unnatural, for the natural law says 'love your neighbour and hate your enemy' [Nietzsche] |