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In this article, I develop an ‘aspectual’ reading of Spinoza’s doctrine of formal essence, objective being, existence and non-existence, and actuality of things that conforms to his monism understood as a one-level ontology.
- 1 Formal Essences and Existence
- 2 Actual Essences and Existence
- 3 E2p8 Reconsidered
E2p8 is the principal source for Spinoza’s conception of formal essences as existing independently of the existence of singular things in duration.Footnote 11The proposition reads: The corollary continues: These lines suggest a distinction between non-durational and durational manners of existing of singular things. Spinoza says that the distinctio...
According to Spinoza’s conatus doctrine, “Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to persevere in its being [in suo esse perseverare conatur]” (E3p6/G 2:146). Moreover, “The striving [Conatus] by which each thing strives to persevere in its being is nothing but the actual essence of the thing” (E3p7/G 2:146). As noted above, Spinoza ...
This brings us back, at last, to Spinoza’s claim in E2p8 that the formal essences of singular things are “contained in” or “comprehended in” God’s attributes whether or not the singular things exist in duration. Since, as we have just seen, essences are eternal, they do not come into and go out of existence depending on whether a singular thing exi...
- Matthew Homan
- matthew.homan@cnu.edu
- 2021
Jan 11, 2022 · He believes that the essence of each substance is constituted by only one attribute: whereas the essence of a mind must be constituted by the attribute of Thought, the essence of a body must be constituted by the attribute of Extension.
Mar 31, 2023 · On a widespread reading, the essence of X is nothing but the concept of X. This paper argues against this identification of essences and concepts. Spinozistic concepts are maximally inclusive: the concept of X contains everything that is needed to make X conceivable.
Spinoza’s central doctrines in Part 5 of the Ethics include the following: (1) there is in God an idea of the formal essence of each human body; (2) because this idea remains after the death of the body, a part of the human mind is eternal; and (3) the wiser and more knowing one is, the greater is this part of one’s mind that is eternal ...
Apr 6, 2020 · Spinoza’s Formal Essence. Christopher Martin (Author), University of Toledo. Paper Abstract. Spinoza stipulates in E2def2, his definition of the essence of a thing, that the essence of each particular can neither exist nor, even, be conceived, except alongside its particular.
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Spinoza’s Formal Essence. Christopher Martin. Abstract. Spinoza stipulates in E2def2, his definition of the essence of a thing, that the essence of each particular can neither exist nor, even, be conceived, except alongside its particular.
