Abstract
Several questions regarding Spinoza's concept of essence have been the topic of recent scholarly debate. In this paper, I show that the connection between love, desire and essence is ubiquitous in the Ethics, as well as metaphysically and psychologically coherent; moreover, it provides the key to answer unresolved questions. Analyzing the notion of essence through Spinoza's theory of love shows that essence can be expressed in different ways, and be reflected through different objects of love. These objects of love, in turn, signify the extent to which the affected mind understands itself, God and things in the world. Each object is a different expression of the same single, unique essence of the individual, and therefore of the desire which defines them. This interpretation allows to solve some puzzles about essence, and also to establish the importance of love in Spinoza's philosophy as a whole-especially his epistemology and ethics.
Highlights
Essence in the EthicsIt has been a long-standing consensus that Spinoza employs a strictly individual conception of essence; that is, each single thing has its own essence, and this essence is completely unique to it
It has been widely accepted that Spinoza conceived of essence as something unique to each individual thing
See Karolina Hübner, "Spinoza on Essences, Universals, and Beings of Reason", Pasific Philosophical Quarterly, 2015; and Don Garrett, “Spinoza on the Essence of the Human Body and the Part of the posits that there are shared as well as individual essences, which correspond to Spinoza's use of two arguably opposed terms: actual and formal essence
Summary
It has been a long-standing consensus that Spinoza employs a strictly individual conception of essence; that is, each single thing has its own essence, and this essence is completely unique to it. One of the major disadvantages of Marshall's reading, and the main way in which it differs from mine, is the lack of relevance or continuity to the second half of Part 5, in which Spinoza uses his discussion of the movement from passivity to activity and the destruction of the passions as the basis for attaining the third kind of knowledge and experiencing the intellectual love of God. to its necessity, and since for Spinoza God is Nature— destroying the passions means understanding and thinking of God. The empowerment that comes with this understanding, the enhancement of action and diminishment of passivity, brings joy (in a way, the empowerment or 'passage into a greater perfection' is itself joy, as per 3p11). The scholium of 5p42, which concludes the book, again ties together the unwise man's susceptibility to lust as a function of his lack of knowledge, or unconsciousness of himself, and God and things; and that freedom and peace of mind consist not in abstinence, but in love—love for the right object
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