Knowledge of the infinite immediate mode of extension in Spinoza
Abstract
Contrary to the usual conception of Spinoza’s second kind of knowledge as a knowledge of particular things (the finite modes expressing one of the two attributes known to us, Thought and Extension), the aim of this paper is to prove, taking literally some propositions contained in the Second Book of the Ethics (E 2), that common notions such as the ubiquitous properties of things are precisely forged through the knowledge of the immediate infinite mode of Extension, namely, motion and rest, as is written in Letter 64 (Ep 64). Our conclusion is that, differently to what happens in the case of scientia intuitiva, knowledge of the second kind does not have singulars as its object (neither universals nor transcendentals, which are conceived by Spinoza as not existing in an ontic sense), but instead the immediate infinite mode of Extension, that follows from the nature of God taken in absolute terms.Keywords
Spinoza, knowledge of the second kind, scientia intuitiva, extension, common notions, universals, formal essence, attributes, modesReferences
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