Spinoza

(For an introduction please refer to the Powerpoint Presentation given in class.)

Quotes from Book III

“The affects, therefore, of hate, anger, envy, and the like, considered in themselves, follow with the same necessity and force of Nature as the other singular things ... Therefore, I shall treat the nature and powers of the affects, and the power of the mind over them, by the same method by which, in the preceding parts, I treated God and the mind, and I shall consider human actions and appetites just as if it were a question of lines, planes, and bodies.” (Preface, III)

“Therefore, if we can be the adequate cause of any of these affections, I understand by the affect an action, otherwise, a passion.” (3d3)

“Our mind does certain things [acts] and undergoes other things, namely, insofar as it has adequate ideas, it necessarily does certain things, and insofar as it has inadequate ideas, it necessarily undergoes other things.” (3p1)

“The actions of the mind arise from adequate ideas alone; the passions depend on inadequate ideas alone.” (3p3)

“Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to persevere in its being.” (3p6)