Spiritual automaton : Spinoza's science of the mind / Eugene Marshall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marshall, Eugene, 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.

Philosophy of mind.

Mind and body.

Local Subjects:

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.

Physical Description:

xi, 242 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

Eugene Marshall provides a systematic account of Spinoza's philosophy of mind, which presents Spinoza's concept of the mind as an affective mechanism, one that, when rational, behaves as a spiritual automaton. The central feature of the account is a novel concept of consciousness, one that identifies consciousness with affectivity, a property of an idea paradigmatically but not exhaustively instantiated by those modes of thought Spinoza calls affects. Inadequate and adequate ideas come to consciousness, and thus impact our well-being and establish or disturb our happiness, only insofar as they become affects and, thus, conscious. And ideas become affects by entering into appropriate causal relations with the other ideas that constitute a mind. Furthermore, the topic of consciousness in Spinoza provides an eminently well-placed point of entry into his system, because it flows directly out of his central metaphysical, epistemological, and psychological commitments-and it does so in a way that allows us to see Spinoza's philosophy as a systematic whole. Further, doing so provides a thoroughly consistent yet novel way of thinking about central themes in his thought. Marshall's reading provides a novel understanding of adequacy, innateness, power, activity and passivity, the affects, the conatus, bondage, freedom, the illusion of free will, akrasia, blessedness, salvation, and the eternity of the soul. In short, by explaining the affective mechanisms of consciousness in Spinoza, The Spiritual Automaton illuminates Spinoza's systematic philosophical and ethical project as a whole, as well as in its details, in a striking new way. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction and Background 1

1 General Introduction 1

2 Background 10

2.1 Ideas 11

2.2 Inadequate Ideas 12

2.3 Inadequate Ideas, Essences, and Representation 18

3 Conclusion of the Introduction 19

2 Adequate Ideas are Innate 20

1 Introduction 20

2 The Challenge 21

3 Adequacy 24

3.1 The Common Notions 31

3.2 Gods Essence 36

3.3 Particular Essences 41

4 Innateness 50

4.1 Skepticism Concerning Innateness in Spinoza 53

4.2 Leibniz and Spinoza on Innateness 54

5 Conclusion 56

3 Power, Conatus, and Affects 58

1 Introduction 58

2 Power of Acting 60

2.1 Modes of Substance and the Power of Acting 61

2.2 On Complex Individuals 65

2.3 Ideas and Power 71

3 Conatus 78

3.1 A Tendency to Persevere 78

3.2 The Tendency in Complex Individuals 81

4 Affects of the Mind 87

5 Adequate Ideas and Active Affects 92

5.1 Rejecting the Human Inadequacy Argument 93

5.2 Being an Adequate Cause 95

5.3 Adequacy and Explanation 97

6 Conclusion 102

4 Affects and Consciousness 104

1 Introduction 104

1.1 A Note on Consciousness Terms in Spinoza 106

2 Competing Theories 108

2.1 Ideas of Ideas 108

2.2 Complexity 111

2.3 The Power of an Idea 114

3 A Theory of Consciousness in Spinoza 117

3.1 What Would a Good Account of Consciousness Look Like? 118

3.2 Consciousness as Affectivity 118

3.3 More Than Just Emotions 120

3.4 The Richness of Affectivity 122

3.5 Consciousness and Desire 123

3.6 Affectivity and the Ethical Project 125

4 Objections 129

4.1 Avoiding Old Objections 129

4.2 Addressing New Concerns 133

4.3 An Evaluation and Summary of the Interpretation 137

5 Conclusion 140

5 Moral Psychology and Bondage 141

1 Introduction 141

2 Bondage and Freedom 141

2.1 Two Senses of Freedom 142

2.2 Freedom and Action 152

2.3 Freedom and Living According to Reason 155

2.4 A Few Conclusions So Far 158

3 The Mechanisms of Bondage 159

3.1 The Illusion of Free Will 160

3.2 Affects and Akrasia 165

3.3 Mind as Affective Mechanism 167

3.4 Akrasia in Spinoza 170

3.5 The Mechanisms of Bondage and Akrasia 174

4 Conclusion 184

6 Freedom, Therapy, and Salvation 186

1 Introduction 186

2 The Affective Mechanisms of Freedom 187

2.1 The Mechanisms of Freedom 187

2.2 Further Mechanisms 196

3 Blessedness, Salvation, and the Soul 205

3.1 Our Highest Happiness and Blessedness 205

3.2 Faith and Salvation 214

3.3 Consciousness and the Eternity of the Soul 222

4 Final Conclusions 229.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0199675538

9780199675531

OCLC:

841911329