Abstract

This thesis examines the concept and significance of action in Spinoza's philosophy. The analysis demonstrates that action is a fundamental Spinozistic concept, and a major strand in his philosophy. The concept of action is interwoven with all of Spinoza's major conceptions. The centrality of action is due to the fact that it endows Spinozistic philosophy with a dynamic character and binds together the whole universe in a web of Spinozistic determinism. Spinozistic action is traced in this thesis from substance, through the attributes, modes and causality to its significance in the essence and place of man. Action is found to be the means through which Substance initiates, causes, and powers all things in the universe. ;The role of action, which is central to the concept of Substance, carries over into the attributes. The attributes provide us with a necessary step in the explanation of the existence and activity of the universe since the essential nature of Reality can be conceived by us only through the attributes of Thought and Extension. Activity, under these attributes, is manifested in the 'modal universe' by means of true and adequate ideas and motion and rest, respectively. Spinoza's concept of causality supplies a dynamic relation between God and the modal universe. ;The essence of man is formed by certain modes of God, and is in God. The human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God and the human body is an expression of God under the attribute of Extension. Human actions are necessarily part of the universal rules and laws of nature since human beings take part in the reality of the universe