Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
On Spinoza's Ethics, Third Part, "Concerning the Origin and Nature of the Emotions." We want to see how emotions ground ethics, but first, we have to explain what emotions are, which means explaining how mind and body (and causality) work together on Spinoza's account. A passion is being affected by something that we don't understand, whereas reason (which will yield ethical behavior) involves grasping a cause clearly and distinctly. The latter means it's in your individual mind, whereas even if you don't understand the cause, it's still in God's mind, which each of us is essentially a part of.
Read along with us: ia601403.us.archive.org/9/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.263056/2015.263056.Ethics_text.pdf, starting on p. 83 (PDF p. 129).
Get more Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes at closereadsphilosophy.com. Get additional parts to this and many other discussions at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy. Note that any ads here are inserted by YouTube, with no money going to us. Everything on our Patreon page is ad free.
On Spinoza's Ethics, Third Part, "Concerning the Origin and Nature of the Emotions." We want to see how emotions ground ethics, but first, we have to explain what emotions are, which means explaining how mind and body (and causality) work together on Spinoza's account. A passion is being affected by something that we don't understand, whereas reason (which will yield ethical behavior) involves grasping a cause clearly and distinctly. The latter means it's in your individual mind, whereas even if you don't understand the cause, it's still in God's mind, which each of us is essentially a part of.
Read along with us: ia601403.us.archive.org/9/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.263056/2015.263056.Ethics_text.pdf, starting on p. 83 (PDF p. 129).
Get more Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes at closereadsphilosophy.com. Get additional parts to this and many other discussions at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy. Note that any ads here are inserted by YouTube, with no money going to us. Everything on our Patreon page is ad free.
![Rick Roderick on Derrida - The Ends of Man [full length]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LvAwoUvXNzU/mqdefault.jpg "Rick Roderick on Derrida - The Ends of Man [full length]
Rick Roderick on Derrida - The Ends of Man [full length]")
