Spinoza's Parallelism

Analytical Essay # 112967

Philosophy > Metaphysics
Philosophy > Religion

Explores Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza's concept of parallelism as presented in his "The Ethics".

2,078 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Baruch Spinoza's concept of parallelism, which seeks to overcome the Cartesian mind-body dilemma essential to Renee Descartes' model. In particular, the paper examines Spinoza's idea of substance, and those attributes and modes, which follow it in order to offer greater insight into Spinoza's concept of parallelism. The paper relates that Spinoza used his notion of parallelism to describe how to understand the way the universal substance explicates itself in all things.

From the Paper:

"In order to understand Spinoza's concept of parallelism, it is first necessary to examine his idea of substance, and those attributes and modes, which follow it. Substance, which Spinoza utilizes interchangeably with God when it "consist[s] of infinite attributes", is defined as "what is in itself and is conceived through itself; that is, that the conception of which does not require the conception of another thing from which it has to be formed" (31). Substance is that which relies upon nothing outside itself for its conception or existence."