Abstract

Spinoza's moral philosophy was neglected in favor of his views in metaphysics and epistemology. Spinoza's discussion in the Ethics suggests that while ‘good’ and ‘bad’ do not refer to real intrinsic features of things, nevertheless they can bear an objectivist burden. The notion of conatus lies at the heart of Spinoza's moral psychology and theory of motivation. In Spinoza's view, then, human beings are thoroughly egoistic agents. An agent's power or striving may be directed either by random sense experience and the imagination. Spinoza identifies living according to one's own nature with living according to the guidance of reason. Spinoza has shown that all of the human emotions are constantly directed outward, towards things and their tendencies to affect us one way or another.