What are some critiques of Spinoza that are generally regarded as holding weight?

What is Spinoza’s argument?

Spinoza’s Ontological Argument, once unpacked, is as follows: When two things have nothing in common, one cannot be the cause of the other (Premise 1, E1p3). It is impossible for two substances to have the same attribute (or essence) (Premise 2, E1p5).

What did Spinoza believe about the mind and body?

Spinoza claims that the mind and body are one and the same. But he also claims that the mind thinks and does not move, whereas the body moves and does not think.

What principle does Spinoza use to individuate bodies?

Bodies are individuated one from the other, not by reason of substance, but rather by reason of motion and rest (IIp13sl1), individual identity through time and change being a matter of the dynamic maintenance of a distinctive ratio of motion and rest of a body’s parts (IIp13s Def.).

What is Spinoza’s Ethics about?

This is the fundamental principle of the Ethics….” Spinoza holds that everything that exists is part of nature, and everything in nature follows the same basic laws. In this perspective, human beings are part of nature, and hence they can be explained and understood in the same way as everything else in nature.

What was Spinoza’s view of God?

Spinoza believed that God is “the sum of the natural and physical laws of the universe and certainly not an individual entity or creator”.

What would Spinoza’s God say?

Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in the 17th century of a businessman father who was successful but not wealthy. To him, God would have said: “Stop praying and giving yourselves blows on your chests, what I want you to do is to go out into the world to enjoy your life.