The Ethics - Benedictus de Spinoza (ebook reader online free TXT) 📗
- Author: Benedictus de Spinoza
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Note.-From what has been said we may clearly understand the
nature of Love and Hate. Love is nothing else but pleasure
accompanied by the idea of an external cause : Hate is nothing
else but pain accompanied by the idea of an external cause. We
further see, that he who loves necessarily endeavours to have,
and to keep present to him, the object of his love ; while he who
hates endeavours to remove and destroy the object of his hatred.
But I will treat of these matters at more length hereafter.
PROP. XIV. If the mind has once been affected by two emotions at
the same time, it will, whenever it is afterwards affected by one
of these two, be also affected by the other.
Proof.-If the human body has once been affected by two bodies
at once, whenever afterwards the mind conceives one of them, it
will straightway remember the other also (II. xviii.). But the
mind’s conceptions indicate rather the emotions of our body than
the nature of external bodies (II. xvi. Coroll. ii.) ; therefore,
if the body, and consequently the mind (III. Def. iii.) has been
once affected by two emotions at the same time, it will, whenever
it is afterwards affected by one of the two, be also affected by
the other.
PROP. XV. Anything can, accidentally, be the cause of pleasure,
pain, or desire.
Proof.-Let it be granted that the mind is simultaneously
affected by two emotions, of which one neither increases nor
diminishes its power of activity, and the other does either
increase or diminish the said power (III. Post. i.). From the
foregoing proposition it is evident that, whenever the mind is
afterwards affected by the former, through its true cause, which
(by hypothesis) neither increases nor diminishes its power of
action, it will be at the same time affected by the latter, which
does increase or diminish its power of activity, that is (III.
xi. note) it will be affected with pleasure or pain. Thus the
former of the two emotions will, not through itself, but
accidentally, be the cause of pleasure or pain. In the same way
also it can be easily shown, that a thing may be accidentally the
cause of desire. Q.E.D.
Corollary.-Simply from the fact that we have regarded a thing
with the emotion of pleasure or pain, though that thing be not
the efficient cause of the emotion, we can either love or hate
it.
Proof.-For from this fact alone it arises (III. xiv.), that
the mind afterwards conceiving the said thing is affected with
the emotion of pleasure or pain, that is (III. xi. note),
according as the power of the mind and body may be increased or
diminished, &c. ; and consequently (III. xii.), according as the
mind may desire or shrink from the conception of it (III. xiii.
Coroll.), in other words (III. xiii. note), according as it may
love or hate the same. Q.E.D.
Note.-Hence we understand how it may happen, that we love or
hate a thing without any cause for our emotion being known to us
; merely, as a phrase is, from sympathy or antipathy. We should
refer to the same category those objects, which affect us
pleasurably or painfully, simply because they resemble other
objects which affect us in the same way. This I will show in the
next Prop. I am aware that certain authors, who were the first
to introduce these terms “sympathy” and “antipathy,” wished to
signify thereby some occult qualities in things ; nevertheless I
think we may be permitted to use the same terms to indicate known
or manifest qualities.
PROP. XVI. Simply from the fact that we conceive, that a given
object has some point of resemblance with another object which is
wont to affect the mind pleasurably or painfully, although the
point of resemblance be not the efficient cause of the said
emotions, we shall still regard the first-named object with love
or hate.
Proof.-The point of resemblance was in the object (by
hypothesis), when we regarded it with pleasure or pain, thus
(III. xiv.), when the mind is affected by the image thereof, it
will straightway be affected by one or the other emotion, and
consequently the thing, which we perceive to have the same point
of resemblance, will be accidentally (III. xv.) a cause of
pleasure or pain. Thus (by the foregoing Corollary), although
the point in which the two objects resemble one another be not
the efficient cause of the emotion, we shall still regard the
first-named object with love or hate. Q.E.D.
PROP. XVII. If we conceive that a thing, which is wont to affect
us painfully, has any point of resemblance with another thing
which is wont to affect us with an equally strong emotion of
pleasure, we shall hate the first-named thing, and at the same
time we shall love it.
Proof.-The given thing is (by hypothesis) in itself a cause
of pain, and (III. xiii. note), in so far as we imagine it with
this emotion, we shall hate it : further, inasmuch as we conceive
that it has some point of resemblance to something else, which is
wont to affect us with an equally strong emotion of pleasure, we
shall with an equally strong impulse of pleasure love it
(III.xvi.) ; thus we shall both hate and love the same thing.
Q.E.D.
Note.-This disposition of the mind, which arises from two
contrary emotions, is called vacillation ; it stands to the
emotions in the same relation as doubt does to the imagination
(II. xliv. note) ; vacillation and doubt do not differ one from
the other, except as greater differs from less. But we must bear
in mind that I have deduced this vacillation from causes, which
give rise through themselves to one of the emotions, and to the
other accidentally. I have done this, in order that they might
be more easily deduced from what went before ; but I do not deny
that vacillation of the disposition generally arises from an
object, which is the efficient cause of both emotions. The human
body is composed (II. Post. i.) of a variety of individual parts
of different nature, and may therefore (Ax.i. after Lemma iii.
after II. xiii.) be affected in a variety of different ways by
one and the same body ; and contrariwise, as one and the same
thing can be affected in many ways, it can also in many different
ways affect one and the same part of the body. Hence we can
easily conceive, that one and the same object may be the cause of
many and conflicting emotions.
PROP. XVIII. A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully
by the image of a thing past or future as by the image of a thing
present.
Proof.-So long as a man is affected by the image of anything,
he will regard that thing as present, even though it be
non-existent (II. xvii. and Coroll.), he will not conceive it as
past or future, except in so far as its image is joined to the
image of time past or future (II. xliv. note). Wherefore the
image of a thing, regarded in itself alone, is identical, whether
it be referred to time past, time future, or time present ; that
is (II. xvi. Coroll.), the disposition or emotion of the body is
identical, whether the image be of a thing past, future, or
present. Thus the emotion of pleasure or pain is the ssame,
whether the image be of a thing past or future. Q.E.D.
Note I.-I call a thing past or future, according as we either
have been or shall be affected thereby. For instance, according
as we have seen it, or are about to see it, according as it has
recreated us, or will recreate us, according as it has harmed us,
or will harm us. For, as we thus conceive it, we affirm its
existence ; that is, the body is affected by no emotion which
excludes the existence of the thing, and therefore (II. xvii.)
the body is affected by the image of the thing, in the same way
as if the thing were actually present. However, as it generally
happens that those, who have had many experiences, vacillate, so
long as they regard a thing as future or past, and are usually in
doubt about its issue (II. xliv. note) ; it follows that the
emotions which arise from similar images of things are not so
constant, but are generally disturbed by the images of other
things, until men become assured of the issue.
Note II.-From what has just been said, we understand what is
meant by the terms Hope, Fear, Confidence, Despair, Joy, and
Disappointment.5 Hope is nothing else but an inconstant
pleasure, arising from the image of something future or past,
whereof we do not yet know the issue. Fear, on the other hand,
is an inconstant pain also arising from the image of something
concerning which we are in doubt. If the element of doubt be
removed from these emotions, hope becomes Confidence and fear
becomes Despair. In other words, Pleasure or Pain arising from
the image of something concerning which we have hoped or feared.
Again, Joy is Pleasure arising from the image of something past
whereof we have doubted the issue. Disappointment is the Pain
opposed to Joy.
PROP. XIX. He who conceives that the object of his love is
destroyed will feel pain ; if he conceives that it is preserved
he will feel pleasure.
Proof.-The mind, as far as possible, endeavours to conceive
those things which increase or help the body’s power of activity
(III. xii.) ; in other words (III. xii. note), those things which
it loves. But conception is helped by those things which
postulate the existence of a thing, and contrariwise is hindered
by those which exclude the existence of a thing (II. xvii.) ;
therefore the images of things, which postulate the existence of
an object of love, help the mind’s endeavour to conceive the
object of love, in other words (III. xi. note), affect the mind
pleasurably ; contrariwise those things, which exclude the
existence of an object of love, hinder the aforesaid mental
endeavour ; in other words, affect the mind painfully. He,
therefore, who conceives that the object of his love is destroyed
will feel pain, &c. Q.E.D.
PROP. XX. He who conceives that the object of his hate is
destroyed will also feel pleasure.
Proof.-The mind (III. xiii.) endeavours to conceive those
things, which exclude the existence of things whereby the body’s
power of activity is diminished or constrained ; that is (III.
xiii. note), it endeavours to conceive such things as exclude the
existence of what it hates ; therefore the image of a thing,
which excludes the existence of what the mind hates, helps the
aforesaid mental effort, in other words (III. xi. note), affects
the mind pleasurably. Thus he who conceives that the object of
his hate is destroyed will feel pleasure. Q.E.D.
PROP. XXI. He who conceives, that the object of his love is
affected pleasurably or painfully, will himself be affected
pleasurably or painfully ; and the one or the other emotion will
be greater or less in the lover according as it is greater or
less in the thing loved.
Proof.-The images of things (as we showed in III. xix.) which
postulate the existence of the object of love, help the mind’s
endeavour to conceive the said object. But pleasure postulates
the existence of something feeling pleasure, so much the more in
proportion as the emotion of pleasure is greater ; for it is
(III. xi. note) a transition to a greater perfection ; therefore
the image of pleasure in the object of love helps the mental
endeavour of the lover ; that is, it affects the lover
pleasurably, and so
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