On Divine Providence by Baruch Spinoza
Providence is the striving present in the whole of Nature and in each individual thing to preserve and maintain its existence. Since nothing seeks its own annihilation through its own nature, every thing strives to preserve and improve its condition. General providence is the production and sustenance of all things as parts of Nature; special providence is the separate striving of each thing, considered as a whole, to preserve itself. The care of a man’s limbs as parts of the body illustrates general providence, while the effort of each limb to maintain its own well-being illustrates special providence. God cannot omit what He does, for He has made all things as perfect as they can be, and nothing can exist or be conceived without Him. The objection that confusion exists in Nature arises from ignorance: people judge particular things by invented general Ideas and expect them to conform to such standards in order to count as perfect. Some maintain that general Ideas such as Rational or Animal are created by God, while others treat them as mental rather than real things but still suppose that divine providence concerns kinds alone, not individual and transient things. The argument rejects this view, holding that only particular things have causes, since general things are nothing. God is therefore the cause of and providence over particular things only. Each thing must conform to its own nature rather than to some other supposed Nature. If all human beings had been made like Adam before the fall, there would only have been Adam and no Paul or Peter. Divine perfection consists in giving every thing, great or small, its own essence, or rather in having all things perfectly in God. The question of why mankind was not made unable to sin is answered by treating sin, good, and evil as judgments made from human comparisons and viewpoints. A clock made to strike and show the hours is called good when it fulfils its maker’s aim and bad when it does not, though it may still be good if it was intended to be irregular. Peter must necessarily conform to the Idea of Peter, not to the Idea of Man. Good, evil, and sin are modes of thought, not real things, while all things and works in Nature are perfect.
By Baruch Spinoza · First published 1660 · Genre: Philosophical Treatise, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion · 961 words
First lines
Providence is nothing else than the striving which we find in the whole of Nature and in individual things to maintain and preserve their own existence. For it is manifest that no thing could, through its own nature, seek its own annihilation, but, on the contrary, that every thing has in itself a striving to preserve its condition, and to improve itself. Following these definitions of ours we, therefore, posit a general and a special providence. The general [providence] is that through which all things are produced and sustained in so far as they are parts of the whole of Nature. The special providence is the striving of each thing separately to preserve its existence [each thing, that is to say], considered not as a part of Nature, but as a whole [by itself]. This is explained by the following example: All the limbs of man are provided for, and cared for, in so far as they are parts of man, this is general providence; while special [providence] is the striving of each separate limb (as a whole in itself, and not as a part of man) to preserve and maintain its own well-being.
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On Divine Providence is listed on Textopian as an essay by Baruch Spinoza, dated 1660 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Baruch Spinoza
- Date: 1660 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Philosophical Treatise, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Theological Philosophy, Ethics
- Length: 961 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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Genres
- Philosophical Treatise — The work presents a sustained argument defining providence, causation, perfection, and the status of good and evil through conceptual analysis rather than narrative.
- Metaphysics — It examines the nature of God, being, causality, perfection, individual essences, and the relation between particular things and the whole of Nature.
- Philosophy of Religion — Its central subject is divine providence, God's perfection, God's relation to creation, and objections concerning disorder and sin.
- Theological Philosophy — The text treats theological concepts through rational, philosophical argument, redefining providence without relying on revelation or devotional instruction.
Tags
philosophy · metaphysics · theology · rationalism · ethics · determinism · necessity · nature · causality · free will · religion · biblical criticism