Spinoza's Modes

A standard interpretation of Spinoza's Ethical program, which he does little to explicitly discourage, has it as a Rationalist Quietism that aims at the experience of an 'Adequate Idea', an epiphany which transforms the self-understanding of a human from one of an isolated creature governed by a self-preservative drive, to that of a particular 'Mode' of the Pantheistic God, who is identical to Nature, and who has both Mind and Body. However, this interpretation is difficult to reconcile with Spinoza's notion of God as fundamentally a creative process, 'nature naturing', and with his activistic Political Theory. Furthermore, he in places suggests that an 'Adequate Idea' is, in fact, genetic definition, e. g. the definition of a Circle instructs how to draw a circle, not a passive moment of realization, which is consistent with his notion of God as fundamentally a creative process. Spinoza may not have had the conceptual resources of Evolutionary Theory, or the innovations of Pragmatism, at his disposal. but this heterodox interpretation has him anticipating a transition from Quietist Ethics to Activist Phronetics, in which Modes are Individuals, not mere Particulars.