In this blog post, we’ll focus on Spinoza’s ideas to explore how he overturned traditional notions of God, humans, and nature, and offered new philosophical understandings based on them.
Called “the philosopher who provoked philosophy,” Spinoza questioned conventional ideas about God, humans, and nature by criticizing anthropocentric and teleological ideas. He saw God not as a transcendent being outside the world, but as nature itself. This was a powerful challenge to traditional religious views of the time, and a radical departure from the view of God as a personal being with human attributes. He also believed that God had no specific purpose or intention, and that everything in the world flowed naturally according to natural laws. This view subverted the conventional belief that the world operated according to a divine will and plan.
His ideas about God, humans, and nature are evident in his explanation of substance and modality. He viewed substance as a being that is the cause of its own existence, that is, an independent entity that does not depend on anything else for its existence, according to which God is the only substance. Spinoza, on the other hand, saw all beings other than God as modalities, which are variations of the substance and cannot exist apart from the substance. His distinction is not merely philosophical, but raises fundamental questions about how humans should view and understand the world. For example, he criticized the view of humans as independent and autonomous beings, emphasizing that humans are merely transformations of the reality of God.
According to him, an entity, or God, has many attributes, but the only two attributes of God that humans can recognize are thought and extension. Thinking is thinking through the mind, and extension is occupying a certain portion of space. Spinoza believed that modality is the manifestation of the divine attributes of thought and extension. For example, things like the intellect and will are modalities of thinking, and things that can be seen with the eyes are modalities of extension. In this way, he understood all human activity and the material world as modified modes of reality, suggesting that all existence is derived from divine attributes.
He also divided nature into producing nature and being-produced nature and linked them to substance and modality. Nature that produces nature refers to God as the nature that creates all things. The nature that produces nature is the principle of all things, indicating that it is the source of all things, and Spinoza used this concept to explain the nature of God. On the other hand, the nature that is produced is the nature that exists only at certain moments, which corresponds to modality. This bifurcated notion of nature emphasizes that humans are not meant to dominate and exploit nature, but rather are part of nature and live according to its laws.
According to Spinoza, the anthropocentric idea that humans, like other natural things, are only modalities and can be used at will to meet their needs leads to endless greed, which leads to an unhappy life. These criticisms called for a fundamental rethinking of the social and religious mindset of the time. The widespread anthropocentric thinking of the time – the idea that humans are special and can manipulate nature at will – was often used as a rationale to justify exploiting nature. Spinoza directly criticized this, arguing that not only humans but also other animals have minds, and that humans exist within the laws of nature.
He emphasized that in order for humans to find peace of mind and lead a happy life, free from passions such as desire and greed, they must realize that they are only one aspect of nature, just like all other beings, and know their place. Instead of thinking of themselves as the masters of nature, humans should recognize all things as equal to themselves, and this recognition, he believed, would allow them to move toward freedom of mind and not be bound by emotions. These ideas resonated with the society of the time and led to a new understanding of the relationship between human existence and nature.
Ultimately, Spinoza saw humans not as the center of the world, but rather as an expression of nature that creates, and he proposed a way for humans to recognize their limitations as part of nature and live in harmony with it. Spinoza’s ideas sounded the alarm against the narrow-mindedness of those who saw the world as human-centered, and they continue to influence modern philosophy. His ideas enabled a new understanding of the place and role of humans and provided a philosophical basis for seeking a harmonious relationship with nature.
