Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the reception of the Cartesian theory of eternal truths in Spinoza’s thought. As demonstrated by several occurrences in his works, he had a deep and articulated knowledge of Descartes’s doctrine. Unlike most of important philosophers of the period, Spinoza did not simply reject the theory, but he tried to incorporate and integrate it in his own reflection. For this reason, by accepting some of its premises – the centrality of God’s efficient causation, the creation of both the essence and the existence of things –, Spinoza ended up by refuting its metaphysical consequences.