Saturday, December 10, 2016

Pantheism and Humanism

One Modern system that decisively breaks from Medieval Supernaturalism is Spinoza's Naturalist Pantheism.  The constituents of this system are Modes, three main characteristics of each of which are: 1. A conatus by which it persists in its being; 2. The maintaining of spatial contiguity and coherence as it changes location; and 3. Can be either simple or compound.  Thus, contrary to some interpretations, a Human is not the only kind of Mode, and, indeed, Spinoza offers no criterion for distinguishing Human Modes from others, i. e.: "I am not able here to explain" (Ethics II, xiii, note) the distinction.  So, even though his Pantheism can be classified as Secular, it is not specifically Humanist.

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