Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 96 (2):58-88 (2015)
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Abstract |
The article proposes a new solution to the long-standing problem of the universality of essences in Spinoza's ontology. It argues that, according to Spinoza, particular things in nature possess unique essences, but that these essences coexist with more general, mind-dependent species-essences, constructed by finite minds on the basis of similarities that obtain among the properties of formally-real particulars. This account provides the best fit both with the textual evidence and with Spinoza's other metaphysical and epistemological commitments. The article offers new readings of how Spinoza understands not just the nature of essence, but also the nature of being, reason, striving, definitions, and different kinds of knowledge.
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Keywords | Spinoza metaphysics essence universals beings of reason nominalism |
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DOI | 10.1111/papq.12087 |
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References found in this work BETA
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.John Locke - 1689 - London, England: Oxford University Press.
The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1.René Descartes - 1984 - Cambridge University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Spinning Strands Into Aspects: Realism, Idealism, and Finite Modes in Spinoza.Noa Shein - 2020 - European Journal of Philosophy 28 (2):323-336.
Spinoza on Composition, Monism, and Beings of Reason.Róbert Mátyási - 2020 - Journal of Modern Philosophy 2 (1):1-16.
Reply to Yenter: Spinoza, Number, and Diversity.Galen Barry - 2016 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 24 (2):365-374.
A Spinozist Aesthetics of Affect and Its Political Implications.Christopher Davidson - 2017 - In Gábor Boros, Judit Szalai & Oliver Istvan Toth (eds.), The Concept of Affectivity in Early Modern Philosophy. Budapest, Hungary: Eötvös Loránd University Press. pp. 185-206.
Spinoza on the Limits of Explanation.Karolina Hübner - 2021 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 103 (2):341-358.
View all 11 citations / Add more citations
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