Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Free Will, Determinism, Intuition

Spinoza's illustration of the belief that there is 'free will' as an image of a falling stone believing it is flying, seems inconsistent with his thesis that bodies have the capacity to move themselves, thereby suggesting a distinction between Free Will and Self-Determination.  Regardless, a different image is suggested by Intuition, i. e. the realization that one is a Mode of Substance, which is the peak experience of his doctrine.  That image is of a finger realizing that it is an extension of a hand, not a discrete entity, with relative, but not absolute, freedom of movement.  The image also illustrates a shortcoming of his doctrine.  For, the realization of a finger that it is part of a hand includes the realization that other fingers are also part of the same hand, and likewise, that movements of all have a ground that can coordinate them to varying degrees.  But, Spinoza does not include in Intuition the realization that others are also Modes of Substance, and inherently related as such.  On the basis of that realization, his concept of Nature as a concatenation of Atoms gets replaced by that of Nature as an Organism.  Similarly, the foundation of his Political Philosophy would be commonality of origin, rather than Individual Right.  In any case, at minimum, the image illustrates that exhaustive rigidity of the alternatives of absolute Free Will and absolute Determinism falsifies the range of Volition that is revealed in Intuition.

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