Philosophers

What does Spinoza mean by "essence"? His geometric method in <i>The Ethics</i> starts from definitions, the first of which is: "By that which is self-caused I mean that whose essence involves existence." Essence itself, however, is never defined.

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Spinoza doesn't define 'essence' in Part I of the Ethics because he takes the meaning of that term to be well-understood: the essence of a thing is its nature. (Descartes, whose work Spinoza knew quite well, uses the terms 'essence' and 'nature' interchangeably in the Principles of Philosophy, Part I, Article 53.) A self-caused being, or causa sui--of which there is only one instance, God--is such that its very nature requires that it exist.

Spinoza says a bit more about the term 'essence' in the second definition of Part II. "I say that to the essence of any thing belongs that which, being given, the thing is necessarily posited and which, being taken away, the thing is necessarily taken away; or that without which the thing can neither be nor be conceived, and which can neither be nor be conceived without the thing."

The first axiom of Part II then distinguishes human beings from a causa sui: "the essence of man does not involve necessary existence."

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What does Spinoza mean by "essence"? His geometric method in The Ethics

What does Spinoza mean by "essence"? His geometric method in The Ethics

What does Spinoza mean by "essence"? His geometric method in <i>The Ethics</i> starts from definitions, the first of which is: "By that which is self-caused I mean that whose essence involves existence." Essence itself, however, is never defined.