|
|
Benedict Spinoza made lenses. So what does a lens maker have to do with philosophy? Well, he ended up developing an idea that was very radical for his time and has been recognized as a great philosopher. It must be realized that Spinoza lived from 1632 to 1677, not exactly great times for different views on religion. But Spinoza stuck to his ideals and died with them when he began to cough up blood from his lungs from the glass dust of his work. Spinoza's idea revolved around God. But his version of God is not like the traditional one. His belief was that there is only one. That God is everything. God is infinite, rational, and perfect. God is an "it". God is reality. Mind and matter are merely manifestations of this reality. This means that everything happens because it is rationally necessary; it is necessary by reason. You see, we are all part of this reality. We do not have free will, just a misinterpretation of the perfection of this reality. There are two great falsities in this world. One is that there is not such thing as individualism since we are all part of this reality called God. The second is that feelings are false. The true ethics is that of apathy. A person should be reasonable (rational) and try to accept all. You see, reason is an aspect of God. It must be pointed out that Spinoza's ideas are in some ways similar to the Stoics. Both believed that there is no free will and everything happened since it was necessary. They also both believed in accepting things as they are since they are like that for a reason. Those are just some basic similarities. |