On will and Desire by Baruch Spinoza
Spinoza distinguishes will from desire by rejecting the idea that either is a free power of affirmation, denial, or choice. Following Aristotle’s terms, desire is any inclination toward what seems good or away from what seems bad; will is the inclination toward something judged or appearing good. Good and bad will therefore name the direction of an inclination, not an independent faculty by which the soul affirms or denies. Desire is not free because it depends upon ideas of objects, while understanding itself requires external causes. A child who first hears a pleasant little bell necessarily desires it: he cannot reject the desire through knowledge of something better or through judging the bell bad, since he knows nothing else. Nor can desire destroy itself, for nothing seeks its own undoing by its own nature. The child can be drawn away only when another thing affects him as more pleasant. Particular desires arise from particular ideas; “Desire” in the abstract is merely an abstraction and has no actual existence or causal power. To call desire free would mean that a particular desire caused itself before it existed, which is absurd. Human beings are parts of the whole of Nature, dependent on and governed by it, and cannot independently secure their own happiness or well-being. This dependence should not be lamented, since Nature is identified with God, the most perfect being, of whom humans are parts and to whose ordered works they contribute. The knowledge of this dependence has several practical uses. It teaches that people are servants or slaves of God, and that necessarily being so is their greatest perfection. It prevents pride in personal achievements, since everything accomplished is attributed to God as the first and only cause. It encourages love of one’s neighbor, replacing hatred and anger with the desire to help and improve others. It supports the Common Good by requiring a judge to act without partiality, punishing or rewarding in order to improve each party. This knowledge also frees people from sorrow, despair, envy, terror, and other evil passions. It removes fear of God, since God is the highest good and the source through whom all things exist. Finally, it leads people to attribute all things to God, love Him alone as most glorious and perfect, and offer themselves wholly to Him. True divine service and eternal happiness consist in fulfilling one’s natural task, just as a tool attains its end by serving its proper use. As a part of Nature, man must follow Nature’s laws; in doing so, he serves God and finds his well-being.
By Baruch Spinoza · First published 1660 · Genre: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ethics · 1,622 words
First lines
Now that it is known that we have no free will to make an affirmation or a denial, let us just see what is the correct and true distinction between will and desire.
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On will and Desire 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: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind, Determinism
- Length: 1,622 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for On will and Desire by Baruch Spinoza
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Genres
- Philosophy — The work is a sustained philosophical argument examining will, desire, freedom, causation, and human dependence on Nature or God.
- Metaphysics — It advances a deterministic account of reality in which individual desires and actions follow necessarily from prior causes and the order of Nature.
- Ethics — Its central practical concern is how understanding necessity should transform conduct, reduce destructive passions, encourage love of others, and promote happiness.
- Philosophy of Mind — The text analyzes volition, desire, ideas, inclination, affirmation, denial, and the psychological causes of human action.
Tags
philosophy · metaphysics · ethics · desire · will · human nature · reason · emotion · freedom · determinism · conatus · mind-body relation