Sunday, September 15, 2013

Deus sive Natura

 Spinoza writes in 13, that there is a certain character to strive for, if one is to be truly happy, and that is, "knowledge of the union existing being the mind and the whole of nature. god is essentially Nature itself; it is the universe and the mechanisms of the universe. 

 With this in mind, to strive to create a union of the mind and nature, one is studying god. And he writes in 16:2, "Thus it is apparent to everyone that I wish to direct all science to one end. . . so that we may attain to the supreme human perfection which we have named." And then in endnote E, he writes, "There is for the sciences but one end, to which all should be directed." 
 Could one then say that by studying the sciences, by studying Nature itself, studying Spinoza's god, one comes closer to true happiness as they are creating a union between the mind and that of nature? He does write in the end of 16 that those sciences that do not promote his object should be cast aside, and so all science is up to debate in it's usefulness. However, one is, by doing this, finding what is "false," casting it aside and continuing the search in the study of nature. 

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