A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Vol. 2: Modern PhilosophyCushman, Herbert Ernest
Philosophy
A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Vol. 2: Modern Philosophy
Cushman, Herbert Ernest
Philosophy -- History
The unity of Spinoza’s God is further suggested by the relation of the
attributes of thought and extension, however separate they must appear
in their quality and causal dependence. Both are aspects of the same
substance, in the one case in the form of extension, and in the other
in the form of thought. In the all-inclusive nature of God, presumably
each moment has an infinite number of correlative moments corresponding
to the infinite number of the attributes of God. Since to human beings
only two of these worlds lie in sight, only two corresponding modes
appear, but always two. This correspondence of the physical and
psychical throughout nature is called in later times _panpsychism_;
in the relation of the body and mind of a human being it is called
_psycho-physical parallelism_. This correspondence helped Spinoza
to solve the apparent dualism of the two worlds. While ideas are
determined only by ideas, and motions by motions, both series point
below to the divine substance which is the significance of both. They
are like the top and bottom sides of a piece of paper, neither side
constituting the piece of paper, but both being necessary to it. The
substance is immanent in thought as well as in extension. Both thought
and extension are aspects of God. The relation of thought and extension
through the Deity discloses the monistic character of Spinoza’s
philosophy and seems to prove that he cannot be a materialist, although
some critics have said that he is. The same reality is seen, now as
consciousness and now as extension.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account