Ethics

“Whatever is, is in God, and nothing can be or be conceived without God.” 

This quote relates to what is often described as Spinoza’s monism (all reality is one) and pantheism (God is in all things). Everything that exists is in some sense in God. This is because God is the one and only substance from which everything else derives. Only God is the cause of his own being; all other things come from him.

“In nature there is nothing contingent, but all things have been determined from the necessity of the divine nature to exist and produce an effect in a certain way.”

This is clear statement of determinism, or the theory that all facts and events are the result of natural laws. Things are the way they are because of God’s eternal nature, not because God deliberately chose to make things a certain way. The same goes for human actions; we may imagine that we are acting out of free will, but in fact we are reacting to affections and emotions that come from the laws of nature. Thus, there is no freedom of choice in the universe. Things simply are.

“The ideas of the affections of the human body, insofar as they are related only to the human mind, are not clear and distinct, but confused.” 

When we have feelings and emotions, we are reacting to things outside us. Therefore, the feelings involve the things outside us as much as they involve us. But only God has complete knowledge of those things. Inevitably, our own knowledge is limited. Spinoza asserts one of his key ideas: Emotions involve confused ideas and are thus opposed to knowledge.

“Falsity consists in the privation of knowledge which inadequate, or mutilated and confused, ideas involve.” 

Building on the previous quote, Spinoza tries to account for how we err in matters of knowledge. Intellectual error stems from having inadequate ideas about things; thus, ignorance is in the mind and not in the things themselves. This implies that ignorance can be overcome by acquiring more knowledge. In later sections Spinoza explains how we can find happiness by overcoming ignorance.

“The human mind has an adequate knowledge of God’s eternal and infinite essence.”

Rather boldly, Spinoza claims that human beings naturally have knowledge of God’s very essence. This is because we know things in the natural world, and since these things are nothing but modes of God’s essence, we necessarily know God through them. This idea would have been disturbing to those who believed divine revelation was necessary to arrive at knowledge of God, which would never be perfect in this life.

“In the mind there is no absolute, or free, will, but the mind is determined to will this or that by a cause which is also determined by another, and this again by another, and so to infinity.” 

Spinoza asserts that human beings do not have free will. More precisely, he denies that there is an absolute faculty called will; instead, there are only individual choices. This is because only God acts out of his own nature; all other things are determined from God’s nature. Human beings do not determine their own actions out of their own nature; rather, their actions are determined by God’s nature because they are modes of God’s essence.

“And most controversies have arisen from this, that men do not rightly explain their own mind, or interpret the mind of the other man badly.” 

This is a significant statement about philosophical understanding, which might apply to the controversy that surrounded Spinoza during his life. Spinoza implies that serious thinkers should understand clearly their own beliefs first, then seek honestly to understand the thought of another person. This implies an optimistic view that if two individuals use their reason properly, they will eventually agree.

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

This statement articulates Spinoza’s belief that the instinct of self-preservation lies at the heart of all living things. This instinct drives the appetite and desire, and hence all human actions. Because it is fundamental to our nature, it is therefore good and the foundation of virtue. This doctrine presents a strong contrast to the Judeo-Christian idea of self-sacrifice and love for others as fundamental.

“Hate is increased by being returned, but can be destroyed by love.”

This is one of Spinoza’s much-admired ethical maxims. It declares that hate only breeds more hate, but that if the hated person instead begins to love the hater, the hater will stop hating and begin to love. This implies an optimistic ethical vision, in which love is more powerful than hate and will eventually triumph.

“From what has been said it is clear that we are driven about in many ways by external causes, and that, like waves on the sea, driven by contrary winds, we toss about, not knowing our outcome and fate.” 

This excerpt reflects Spinoza’s dark view of the human condition as being in bondage to the passions, which tear us in many different directions. Spinoza says that freedom requires breaking free from this slavery through reason, which is opposed to emotions and can help us put them in perspective.

“Love is a joy, accompanied by the idea of an external cause.” 

This comes from Spinoza’s long catalogue of affects and passions. All passions are classifiable as either “a joy” or “a sadness,” oriented toward a specific object. Spinoza goes on to criticize the idea that love is freely willed; for him, it is strictly a feeling or passion occasioned by a particular object.

“Hate is a sadness, accompanied by the idea of an external cause.” 

This definition for hate is the inverse of the one for love. It is notable that Spinoza characterizes hate as a “sadness” rather than an “anger.” This implies that negative emotions diminish or weaken the human person, in contrast to positive emotions, which preserve and empower us.

“By good I shall understand what we certainly know to be useful to us. By evil, however, I shall understand what we certainly know prevents us from being masters of some good.” 

Spinoza implies an equivalence between the good and the useful. Evil, conversely, is that which takes away our power or deprives us of the good. The idea that evil is a privation of good is ancient, but Spinoza’s claim as a whole would have troubled contemporary readers because it seems to say that goodness is a subjective concept, not an intrinsic and objective one, and that utility is the standard of virtue.

“Therefore, an affect can neither be taken away nor restrained except through an opposite and stronger affect.” 

Spinoza asserts that one affect can only be restrained by an opposite or stronger one because an affect is an external cause that acts upon the body, and the body and mind operate separately. Therefore, something intellectual, like knowing good and evil, cannot by itself overcome an emotion. This knowledge must be somehow be perceived as a feeling.

“The knowledge of good and evil is nothing but an affect of joy or sadness, insofar as we are conscious of it.”

Spinoza argues that we perceive good and evil as feelings, not facts. If something makes us sad, we call it evil, and if something makes us joyful, we call it good. Thus, knowledge of good and evil is simply our idea of the feeling of joy or sadness caused by what happens to us. This doctrine that good and evil are subjective feelings would have disquieted many readers in Spinoza’s day.

“Acting absolutely from virtue is nothing else but acting, living, and preserving our being […] by the guidance of reason, from the foundation of seeking one’s own advantage.” 

This succinct statement of Spinoza’s vision of the ethical life starts with the fact of our need for self-preservation. This is natural to us, and therefore useful, and therefore good and virtuous. In this way, everything follows from our legitimate desire to seek our own advantage. This doctrine might seem like an invitation to self-centered ruthlessness, but Spinoza insists it is a rational view of how things are.

“Knowledge of God is the mind’s greatest good; its greatest virtue is to know God.”

Since reason or mind is the greatest part of man, it follows that his greatest good is to know. God is the greatest infinite being, so if follows that our greatest good is to know him. Since virtue is also tied in with rational knowledge, it follows that knowing God is the best activity for us to pursue.

“When each man most seeks his own advantage for himself, then men are most useful to one another.”

Spinoza believes that in seeking their own advantage, human beings will also benefit each other. They will form friendships and associate with other human beings for their mutual well-being. It might appear from this quote that people will help each other only accidentally and that they are ultimately “in it for themselves.” However, Spinoza implies that man is a social being and needs other people to flourish.

“Cheerfulness cannot be excessive, but is always good; melancholy, on the other hand, is always evil.” 

Spinoza defines emotions by how they affect the body. Cheerfulness contributes to our bodily health, whereas melancholy does the opposite. Thus, melancholy has no redeeming value. One cannot speak of having too much cheerfulness because this emotion always affects us for the better.

“Either very great pride or very great despondency is very great ignorance of oneself.” 

Earlier, Spinoza stated that humility is not virtuous because it has no usefulness. Here he qualifies this by stating that both pride and self-deprecation are extremes we should avoid; instead, we should aim at the middle ground, which is to see ourselves as we truly are.

“An affect which is a passion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it.” 

For Spinoza, passions are inherently confused ideas about the world around us. Therefore, by trying to understand the passion and its cause clearly, the passion will diminish and cease to hold power over us. This will lead to our peace and happiness as we gain greater mastery over our emotions.

“Strictly speaking, God loves no one, and hates no one.” 

Because Spinoza defines love as an emotion, and emotions as passive things, and God as totally active, he is led to argue that God cannot have emotions. This is a view of God as beyond feelings and emotions, and it contributes to the idea on an impersonal God. This naturally has consequences for how we behave and relate toward God.

“The human mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the body, but something of it remains which is eternal.” 

Spinoza, like earlier thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle, declares belief in a form of immortality, though it is not so literal as the belief held in religious doctrine. Basically, Spinoza argues that our minds are inherently eternal and that some part of them must continue to exist in God even after the deaths of our bodies.