After our group discussion in class I am still a little confused about Spinoza. Let me see if I understand this correctly, so according to him we must assume that God and Nature are equivalent and that everything that happens is a cause of something that is already determined. Does this mean then that Spinoza’s ethical theory is similar to Epictetus’, in that nature has a universal reasoning to it and that one shall not try and interfere with what is “supposed” to happen? If so, then where do emotions come into place? Should they not be involved in decision-making? Yes, seems to be a probable answer to this question because he also says that a free man is one who is active rather than passive. So in other words one should act in accord with nature rather than from external things impinging on them. It is also mentioned that one cannot strive to be perfect because everything is already at its perfect state. Does this too mean that one should not have desirous emotions to do better than what they are currently doing? Should a plumber not hope and try to get a better job because according to Spinoza he is already in a perfect state? That part just seems a little questionable to me.
The last line of the introduction to Spinoza’s, The Ethics seems to sum up what he believes in; “In the end, Spinoza equates living according to reason, having full knowledge of God or nature, freedom, blessedness, and the highest goal of humans.” However, where from this are we supposed to understand what his ethical theory is? It seems to me that if faced with an ethical dilemma there would be very little thought put into finding your answer. You simply would have to be active and act in accord with nature or God… It may just be me, but I’m a little confused.
From my understanding, knowledge is indeed the way one achieves blessedness (or happiness, or contentment, or whatever the you want to call the most desirous state of being). Though much about Spinoza's philosophy seems like Epictetus's, I think Spinoza has a slightly different view of what "good" emotions are. It seems Spinoza is saying that emotions are okay as long as people understand those emotions as a part of the higher order of God/nature. So BECAUSE people are the way they are, they feel emotions, and there is no other reason. It's all about having that mindset of awareness (which indicates a higher understanding). This is at least what I got out of that aspect of Spinoza's philosophy.
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