Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) - later Benedikt Spinoza - the most outstanding representative of the philosophy of modern times, lived and engaged in research activities in the Netherlands. Having laid the foundations of the Enlightenment era, modern biblical criticism and the concept of the "I", can be considered the greatest rationalist of the 17th century, Benedikt Spinoza.
"Ethics," the fundamental work of the thinker, in which he challenges Descartes's views on the dualism of mind and body, brought the philosopher recognition from the strongest minds of Western philosophy. The work is an undeniable masterpiece, in which the concepts of medieval works were refuted. Hegel talked about contemporaries that they either accept what Spinoza's philosophy postulates or are not at all philosophers. Despite the fact that in his works the thinker demonstrated a great scientific talent, the breadth and significance of his activities were evaluated only after the death of the philosopher.
Benedict Spinoza. "Ethics" and the doctrine of substance
It is known that, in addition to the humanities, the philosopher was seriously involved in mathematics. It is not surprising that he built his famous work on the principles of geometry, since it was mathematics that was considered a source of rigorous evidence, which, in turn, made the conclusions reliable. At the beginning of each part of the treatise, basic concepts are given, followed by axioms - self-evident statements that do not require any justification. Other statements and comments, which constitute the main philosophical part of the work, are based on concepts and axioms and are justified by the evidence that Spinoza cites.
"Ethics" begins with an explanation of the relationship between God and the universe - and this is one of its most important parts. Traditionally, it was believed that God is beyond the boundaries of the world, that he created it for some reason and that if he wanted to create something else - each of these statements is refuted. "God is nature," says Spinoza. His philosophy with respect to this question is that everything that the universe consists of is a single and infinite substance that is divided into creative and created. Thus, the creative substance is God, and all other objects and living beings are his "modes", the created substance. Modes are changeable, finite, entirely dependent on their cause - God, which is their inner essence.
There is no accident in the world, Spinoza concludes. "Ethics" postulates that chance is only a representation of the subject, and the characteristic of substance is the inner necessity of one's own existence. The philosopher was a supporter of rigid determinism: all phenomena have a cause, even human affects. Thus, Spinoza claimed that the creation of the universe was predetermined and was not an act of will. Nevertheless, the philosopher did not consider himself an atheist. He was sure that delusions about the true nature of God are ignorance, and true religion should be built on the basis of morality and knowledge similar to the scientific one.