“Causa Conscientiae” in Spinoza’s Ethics

In Yitzhak Melamed (ed.), Spinoza's ‘Ethics' A Critical Guide. Cambridge University Press. pp. 187-204 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper I assess the sense of the odd expression that occurs in the explanation of the definition of desire, at the end of the third part of the Ethics: causa conscientiae, the cause of consciousness. I intend to show that the sense and the limits of the conception of consciousness that can be inferred from the analysis of this definition and its explanation can shed a new light on the reasons why Spinoza refuses the Cartesian thesis on the right order of Philosophy: self-consciousness shall not be the point of departure of philosophy, not because it would be dependent on knowledge of the external world, but because it is a derivative concept in the sense that the qualification of thinking things as conscious beings supposes some ontological conditions that are not always met: finitude and duration. To establish that I will claim that the aim of the text where the expression arises is to elucidate the conditions under which the concept of consciousness applies, and not to express differently the same thesis of E2P23 and E3P9sc. We will see that Spinoza's point there is not that the human mind – or the human body – must be determined by an external cause in order to be conscious of itself, but that it has to be determined by any affection, regardless of its origin. Therefore, the inside-outside approach must be replaced by the consideration of the duplication of the determination. This twofold structure is the conceptual element that must be added to the definition of appetite in order to account for the cause of consciousness, and its analysis will show that for Spinoza only finite modes of thought that exists in the duration can be conceived as conscious beings.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Consciousness, ideas of ideas and animation in Spinoza’s Ethics.Oberto Marrama - 2017 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 25 (3):506-525.
Spinoza and consciousness.Steven Nadler - 2008 - Mind 117 (467):575-601.
Theories About Consciousness in Spinoza's Ethics.Michael LeBuffe - 2010 - Philosophical Review 119 (4):531-563.
Emotion, Appetition, and Conatus in Spinoza.Lee C. Rice - 1977 - Revue Internationale de Philosophie 31 (1):101--116.
Consciousness in Spinoza's Philosophy of Mind.Christopher Martin - 2010 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 45 (2):269-287.
Spinoza contra Curie.Lance Byron Richey - 1993 - Philosophy and Theology 7 (3):323-331.
Ratio Faciens: Method, Act, and Cause in Spinoza's "Ethics".Aaron V. Garrett - 1997 - Dissertation, New School for Social Research
Spinoza on the Ideality of Time.Geoffrey Gorham - 2013 - Idealistic Studies 43 (1-2):27-40.
Finite in Infinity.Hannah Laurens - 2012 - Stance 5 (1):97-109.
Sartre and Spinoza on the nature of mind.Kathleen Wider - 2013 - Continental Philosophy Review 46 (4):555-575.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-01-14

Downloads
39 (#356,630)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Lia Levy
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references