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title = “Spinoza and the Case of Endeavouring”
author = [“Cleo”]
date = 2022-06-17
draft = false
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Spinoza lays out in part 1 of ‘The Ethics’ that we are of one substance (God/nature) (1DVI). The substance then has infinite attributes, and modes upon which we are created. In this essay it will be shown what the account of endeavour is, how it relates to Adequate and Inadequate causes and finally how emotions play into both Endeavour and cause.
The account of Endeavour for Spinoza beings in Part Three of the Ethics, ‘Each thing, in so far as it is in itself, endeavours to persevere in its being.’ (3PVI). It is made clear that a being will oppose anything that will negate it and welcome anything that affirms it. Spinoza later goes on to claim in (3PVIII) that it is only External things that can kill us, but that we endeavour infinitely and when death does occur our substance is then transformed which endeavours also (if it is a being in itself). So, if there was no external world we would live forever. This however is absurd and thus we must die but it does mean that we cannot kill ourselves or our body (3PX). With this all together we can get a clear sense of what endeavouring is, the process upon which we seek to live forever (3PVIII). This is due to the idea that we are modifications of God’s substance and the idea that we have no free will but that everything must occur out of necessity (1PXXXIII) (2PXLIX). This said, then, its apparent that humans have no free will but rather it comes from the necessary and nothing could come out of that necessary, for if you did something of your free will that could mean that there exists something outside God which is absurd (1DVI). Therefore, it is important to examine then what is the difference between why a person is able to have less or more ‘power’, which is to say reality and the knowledge of our reality. Even though all humans Endeavour it be examined what is the connection between our Endeavouring and increasing or decreasing our power.
This comes through the form and Adequate and Inadequate causes. The former being that of which we can understand the cause of the effect (2DIV).
> ‘By an adequate idea, I mean an idea which, in so far as it is considered in itself, without relation to the object, has all the properties or intrinsic marks of a true idea.’
A true idea for Spinoza is detailed further in ‘On the Improvement of Understanding’. Spinoza would argue that we can only understand fully an idea that is simply (a circle would be an example it is a simple idea and therefore we only grasp it or do not). From this we can only have a true idea if it is only made up of simple ideas that we understand each simple idea that is made up in the complex idea. The inverse would simply be complex ideas.
> ‘[…] that fiction cannot be simple, but is made up of the blending of several confused ideas of diverse […] objects or actions existent in nature, or rather is composed of attention directed to all such ideas at once […] and unaccompanied by any mental assent. Now a fiction that was simple would be clear and distinct, and therefore true,’ (Spinoza, 13-14, 1661).
It also derives the definition of a true idea and therefore we understand adequate causes, but also inadequate causes must simply be then, a cause that we do not comprehend. To show the connection to Endeavour to Adequate and Inadequate causes is to show that this are all connected to God. This is done in three ways:
1. As God is the infinite substance nothing can exist outside God.
2. Because all things are within nature (God) then its apparent that all cause must come from God besides God itself which is its own cause (1PXVICIII).
3. Since all causes derive from God so too does Adequate and Inadequate causes and therefore Adequate causes must be the understanding of god as god is the greatest virtue that we can understand.
Since it has been established the account of Endeavour and that adequate causes and inadequate causes since coming from the first cause (God) then it must be that both of these causes must be the reason we understand or not understand God and therefore we understand our Endeavouring more. Even though all Being Endeavour to exist (3PVI) it’s also the case that we can not understand our Endeavouring. Endeavouring then can only be understood because of Adequate causes. To demonstrate this we should look at the idea of an ant, the ant is not conscious and therefore is unaware of its endeavouring it simply does endeavour. We must then look at the effect of both Adequate and Inadequate causes and how they relate to Emotions.
For Spinoza, the body and mind, while the same Substance, exist with different modes. The former being the mode of extension and the latter being the mode of thought. (2PVII) this is important because the body is then connected to the external world and the mind the internal. ‘The mind, both in so far as it has clear and distinct ideas, and also in so far as it has confused ideas, endeavours to persist in its being for an indefinite period, and of this endeavour it is conscious.’ (3PIX). The proposition goes on to dictate that when we endeavour with the mind it is our will (which again is not free will as it comes from causes that stem back to God) and when we endeavour with our body its name is appetite. Adequate and Inadequate causes come into play because these causes are via the body as they effect the mind (The causes of emotions are external and then their effects Internal). Adequate increase the power of the mind and Inadequate causes decrease the power of the mind.
> ‘We thus see that the mind can suffer great changes, and can pass now to a greater and now to a lesser perfection […] by joy […] I shall understand the passion by which the mind passes to a greater perfection; by sorrow, on the other hand, the passion by which it passes to a less perfection […] Joy, sorrow, and desire – I know of no other primary affect, the others springing from these’ (3PXIS).
With the primary Emotions (or Passions) it is clear that external things can then affect the perfection of the internal mind. The relation between these emotions and understanding them will have to be understood by their causes. These are Adequate and Inadequate cause, if you understand Sorrow and its causes then while it will still decrease your perfection it will be limited as it will be an adequate cause from said Sorrow. This all relates back to Endeavouring, the mind picks up on causes from emotions, understands them, and then can:
1. Increase your perfection and
2. Have a greater endeavouring.
To put it as an example, everyone can walk, but depending on your knowledge of how to walk (such as a toddler) it will be easier or harder. This same logic can be applied to emotions. Through knowing the cause of the emotions you’re able to understand them clearer and from that understand the external world better which all relates back to God.
Endeavouring feeds into itself, you understand life itself through adequate and inadequate causes and then emotions (or passions) are then the bridge between the mode of thought and mode of expansion (they also act as a bridge to the external world). There is something to consider however and this is the idea of the ego. Ego is simply the ‘I’ or the ‘self’. When Spinoza talks of the principal condition of Endeavouring, he speaks of ‘But, on the contrary, it is opposed to everything which can negate its existence’ (3PVI). with this and that would be ‘Ego death’ often times induced with psychedelics the feeling of your ego evaporating to a point where you do not have an ego as such. If this can occur, then how does it fit into Spinoza framework? As you cannot endeavour if you do not think you’re a being in-itself (3PVI) it could easily be argued that the source was external (the drug) and thus still fits in, however it would be bettered argued that even though the source is external the results are the same and it is different from death (as that is the end of endeavouring).
Spinoza’s account of endeavour is related to Inadequate cause and adequate causes that relate to your emotions as there are connected to the external world which we must understand through the body and understand them as adequate. This has been shown by giving a detailed look at each element and how they then interacted to be a part of Spinoza’s philosophy, however while Spinoza is a wellrespected philosopher it does seem there’s some problems that Spinoza failed to account for either because it didn’t exist at the time or was outside the aims of his philosophy.
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