Camila Barrios Camacho September 18, 2011 PHI 393 The Ethics Part II, up to P19 Spinoza Three

Points to Consider/Questions: 1. Spinoza touches on the relationship between thinking, mind, and bodily extension. In P13, Spinoza writes: The object of the idea constituting the human mind is the body, or a certain mode of extension, which actually exists, and nothing else (123). Here, it seems that Spinoza is suggesting that we can only really be sure of the existence of our bodies then, how can we be sure of the existence of other bodies (or can we never be completely sure?) 2. On page 122, Spinoza writes, But in the meantime many say that anything without which a thing can neither be nor be conceived pertains to the nature of the thing. And so they believe that the nature of God pertains to the essence of created things, or that created things can be or be conceived without God or what is more certain, they are not sufficiently sufficient. What does he mean by this? 3. On page 121, Spinoza writes, That the essence of man is constituted by certain modifications of God s attributes. He follows this up by writing, Therefore, it is something by which is in God, and which can neither be nor be conceived without God, or an affection, or mode, which expresses God s nature in a certain and determinate way. How does this concept relate to Armstrong s notion of relational autonomy ?