Proof.- A man, for instance Peter, can be the cause of Paul's feeling pain,
because he (Peter) possesses something similar to that which Paul hates
(III:xvi.), or because Peter has sole possession of a thing which Paul also
loves (III:xxxii.&Note), or for other causes (of which the chief are
enumerated in III:lv.Note) ; it may therefore happen that Paul should hate
Peter (Def. of Emotions: vii.), consequently it may easily happen also, that
Peter should hate Paul in return, and that each should endeavour to do the
other an injury, (III:xxxix.), that is (IV:xxx.), that they should be
contrary one to another. But the emotion of pain is always a passion
or passive state (III:lix.); hence men, in so far as they are assailed by
emotions which are passions, can be contrary one to another. Q.E.D.
Note.- I said that Paul may hate Peter, because he conceives that Peter
possesses something which he (Paul) also loves; from this it seems, at first
sight, to follow, that these two men, through both loving the same thing,
and, consequently, through agreement of their respective natures, stand in
one another's way; if this were so, II:xxx. and II:xxxi. would be untrue.
But if we give the matter our unbiased attention, we shall see that the
discrepancy vanishes. For the two men are not in one another's way in
virtue of the agreement of their natures, that is, through both loving the
same thing, but in virtue of one differing from the other. For, in so far
as each loves the same thing, the love of each is fostered thereby
(III:xxxi.), that is (Def. of the Emotions: vi.) the pleasure of each is
fostered thereby. Wherefore it is far from being the case, that they are
at variance through both loving the same thing, and through the agreement
in their natures. The cause for their opposition lies, as I have said,
solely in the fact that they are assumed to differ. For we assume that
Peter has the idea of the loved object as already in his possession, while
Paul has the idea of the loved object as lost. Hence the one man will be
affected with pleasure, the other will be affected with pain, and thus they
will be at variance one with another. We can easily show in like manner,
that all other causes of hatred depend solely on differences, and not on
the agreement between men's natures.
Prop. XXXV. In so far only as men live
in obedience to reason, do they always
necessarily agree in nature.
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