Another Kind of Spinozistic Monism

Noûs 44 (3):469-502 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I argue that Spinoza endorses "conceptual dependence monism," the thesis that all forms of metaphysical dependence (such as causation, inherence, and existential dependence) are conceptual in kind. In the course of explaining the view, I further argue that it is actually presupposed in the proof for his more famed substance monism. Conceptual dependence monism also illuminates several of Spinoza’s most striking metaphysical views, including the intensionality of causal contexts, parallelism, metaphysical perfection, and explanatory rationalism. I also argue that this priority of the conceptual does not commit Spinoza to forms of idealism or mentalism. The question of how to understand different kinds of metaphysical dependence is quite controversial in Spinoza studies; I address major alternative readings in the notes. But there I also try to draw connections to the growing debate in contemporary discussions about metaphysical dependence, as this topic is a happy point of shared interest between Spinoza and contemporary metaphysicians alike.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The argument for anomalous monism.Ted Honderich - 1982 - Analysis 42 (January):59-64.
Anomalous monism and epiphenomenalism.Rex Welshon - 1999 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 80 (1):103-120.
Kantian Monism.Uriah Kriegel - 2012 - Philosophical Papers 41 (1):23-56.
A Phenomenological Reading of Anomalous Monism.Andrea Zhok - 2011 - Husserl Studies 27 (3):227-256.
Spinoza and indexicals.T. L. S. Sprigge - 1997 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 40 (1):3 – 22.
Monism on the one hand, pluralism on the other.Matthew H. Slater - 2005 - Philosophy of Science 72 (1):22-42.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-11-02

Downloads
190 (#95,492)

6 months
11 (#127,761)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Samuel Newlands
University of Notre Dame

Citations of this work

Fundamentality.Tuomas E. Tahko - 2023 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Leibniz and the Ground of Possibility.Samuel Newlands - 2013 - Philosophical Review 122 (2):155-187.
Spinoza’s Monism II: A Proposal.Kristin Primus - 2023 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 105 (3):444-469.
Principle of Sufficient Reason.Yitzhak Melamed & Martin Lin - unknown - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

View all 14 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Monism: The Priority of the Whole.Jonathan Schaffer - 2010 - Philosophical Review 119 (1):31-76.
The philosophical writings of Descartes.René Descartes - 1984 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
A Study of Spinoza's Ethics.Jonathan Bennett - 1984 - Cambridge University Press.

View all 43 references / Add more references