The Ethics, Benedictus de Spinoza [best reads txt] 📗
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determined to wonder at, love, or fear that thing. But if from
the presence, or more accurate contemplation of the said thing,
we are compelled to deny concerning it all that can be the cause
of wonder, love, fear, &c., the mind then, by the presence of the
thing, remains determined to think rather of those qualities
which are not in it, than of those which are in it ; whereas, on
the other hand, the presence of the object would cause it more
particularly to regard that which is therein. As devotion
springs from wonder at a thing which we love, so does Derision
spring from contempt of a thing which we hate or fear, and Scorn
from contempt of folly, as veneration from wonder at prudence.
Lastly, we can conceive the emotions of love, hope, honour, &c.,
in association with contempt, and can thence deduce other
emotions, which are not distinguished one from another by any
recognized name.
PROP. LIII. When the mind regards itself and its own power of
activity, it feels pleasure : and that pleasure is greater in
proportion to the distinctness wherewith it conceives itself and
its own power of activity.
Proof.-A man does not know himself except through the
modifications of his body, and the ideas thereof (II. xix. and
xxiii.). When, therefore, the mind is able to contemplate
itself, it is thereby assumed to pass to a greater perfection, or
(III. xi. note) to feel pleasure ; and the pleasure will be
greater in proportion to the distinctness, wherewith it is able
to conceive itself and its own power of activity. Q.E.D.
Corollary.-This pleasure is fostered more and more, in
proportion as a man conceives himself to be praised by others.
For the more he conceives himself as praised by others, the more
he will imagine them to be affected with pleasure, accompanied by
the idea of himself (III. xxix. note) ; thus he is (III. xxvii.)
himself affected with greater pleasure, accompanied by the idea
of himself. Q.E.D.
PROP. LIV. The mind endeavours to conceive only such things as
assert its power of activity.
Proof.-The endeavour or power of the mind is the actual
essence thereof (III. vii.) ; but the essence of the mind
obviously only affirms that which the mind is and can do ; not
that which it neither is nor can do ; therefore the mind
endeavours to conceive only such things as assert or affirm its
power of activity. Q.E.D.
PROP. LV. When the mind contemplates its own weakness, it feels
pain thereat.
Proof.-The essence of the mind only affirms that which the
mind is, or can do ; in other words, it is the mind’s nature to
conceive only such things as assert its power of activity (last
Prop.). Thus, when we say that the mind contemplates its own
weakness, we are merely saying that while the mind is attempting
to conceive something which asserts its power of activity, it is
checked in its endeavour - in other words (III. xi. note), it
feels pain. Q.E.D.
Corollary.-This pain is more and more fostered, if a man
conceives that he is blamed by others ; this may be proved in the
same way as the corollary to III. liii.
Note.-This pain, accompanied by the idea of our own weakness,
is called humility ; the pleasure, which springs from the
contemplation of ourselves, is called self-love or
self-complacency. And inasmuch as this feeling is renewed as
often as a man contemplates his own virtues, or his own power of
activity, it follows that everyone is fond of narrating his own
exploits, and displaying the force both of his body and mind, and
also that, for this reason, men are troublesome to one another.
Again, it follows that men are naturally envious (III. xxiv.
note, and III. xxxii. note), rejoicing in the shortcomings of
their equals, and feeling pain at their virtues. For whenever a
man conceives his own actions, he is affected with pleasure (III.
liii.), in proportion as his actions display more perfection, and
he conceives them more distinctly-that is (II. xl. note), in
proportion as he can distinguish them from others, and regard
them as something special. Therefore, a man will take most
pleasure in contemplating himself, when he contemplates some
quality which he denies to others. But, if that which he affirms
of himself be attributable to the idea of man or animals in
general, he will not be so greatly pleased : he will, on the
contrary, feel pain, if he conceives that his own actions fall
short when compared with those of others. This pain (III.
xxviii.) he will endeavour to remove, by putting a wrong
construction on the actions of his equals, or by, as far as he
can, embellishing his own.
It is thus apparent that men are naturally prone to hatred
and envy, which latter is fostered by their education. For
parents are accustomed to incite their children to virtue solely
by the spur of honour and envy. But, perhaps, some will scruple
to assent to what I have said, because we not seldom admire men’s
virtues, and venerate their possessors. In order to remove such
doubts, I append the following corollary.
Corollary.-No one envies the virtue of anyone who is not his
equal.
Proof.-Envy is a species of hatred (III. xxiv. note) or (III.
xiii. note) pain, that is (III. xi. note), a modification whereby
a man’s power of activity, or endeavour towards activity, is
checked. But a man does not endeavour or desire to do anything,
which cannot follow from his nature as it is given ; therefore a
man will not desire any power of activity or virtue (which is the
same thing) to be attributed to him, that is appropriate to
another’s nature and foreign to his own ; hence his desire cannot
be checked, nor he himself pained by the contemplation of virtue
in some one unlike himself, consequently he cannot envy such an
one. But he can envy his equal, who is assumed to have the same
nature as himself. Q.E.D.
Note.-When, therefore, as we said in the note to III. lii.,
we venerate a man, through wonder at his prudence, fortitude,
&c., we do so, because we conceive those qualities to be peculiar
to him, and not as common to our nature ; we, therefore, no more
envy their possessor, than we envy trees for being tall, or lions
for being courageous.
PROP. LVI. There are as many kinds of pleasure, of pain, of
desire, and of every emotion compounded of these, such as
vacillations of spirit, or derived from these, such as love,
hatred, hope, fear, &c., as there are kinds of objects whereby we
are affected.
Proof.-Pleasure and pain, and consequently the emotions
compounded thereof, or derived therefrom, are passions, or
passive states (III. xi. note) ; now we are necessarily passive
(III. i.), in so far as we have inadequate ideas ; and only in so
far as we have such ideas are we passive (III. iii.) ; that is,
we are only necessarily passive (II. xl. note), in so far as we
conceive, or (II. xvii. and note) in so far as we are affected by
an emotion, which involves the nature of our own body, and the
nature of an external body. Wherefore the nature of every
passive state must necessarily be so explained, that the nature
of the object whereby we are affected be expressed. Namely, the
pleasure, which arises from, say, the object A, involves the
nature of that object A, and the pleasure, which arises from the
object B, involves the nature of the object B ; wherefore these
two pleasurable emotions are by nature different, inasmuch as the
causes whence they arise are by nature different. So again the
emotion of pain, which arises from one object, is by nature
different from the pain arising from another object, and,
similarly, in the case of love, hatred, hope, fear, vacillation,
&c.
Thus, there are necessarily as many kinds of pleasure, pain,
love, hatred, &c., as there are kinds of objects whereby we are
affected. Now desire is each man’s essence or nature, in so far
as it is conceived as determined to a particular action by any
given modification of itself (III. ix. note) ; therefore,
according as a man is affected through external causes by this or
that kind of pleasure, pain, love, hatred, &c., in other words,
according as his nature is disposed in this or that manner, so
will his desire be of one kind or another, and the nature of one
desire must necessarily differ from the nature of another desire,
as widely as the emotions differ, wherefrom each desire arose.
Thus there are as many kinds of desire, as there are kinds of
pleasure, pain, love, &c., consequently (by what has been shown)
there are as many kinds of desire, as there are kinds of objects
whereby we are affected. Q.E.D.
Note.-Among the kinds of emotions, which, by the last
proposition, must be very numerous, the chief are luxury,
drunkenness, lust, avarice, and ambition, being merely species of
love or desire, displaying the nature of those emotions in a
manner varying according to the object, with which they are
concerned. For by luxury, drunkenness, lust, avarice, ambition,
&c., we simply mean the immoderate love of feasting, drinking,
venery, riches, and fame. Furthermore, these emotions, in so far
as we distinguish them from others merely by the objects
wherewith they are concerned, have no contraries. For
temperance, sobriety, and chastity, which we are wont to oppose
to luxury, drunkenness, and lust, are not emotions or passive
states, but indicate a power of the mind which moderates the
last-named emotions. However, I cannot here explain the
remaining kinds of emotions (seeing that they are as numerous as
the kinds of objects), nor, if I could, would it be necessary.
It is sufficient for our purpose, namely, to determine the
strength of the emotions, and the mind’s power over them, to have
a general definition of each emotion. It is sufficient, I
repeat, to understand the general properties of the emotions and
the mind, to enable us to determine the quality and extent of the
mind’s power in moderating and checking the emotions. Thus,
though there is a great difference between various emotions of
love, hatred, or desire, for instance between love felt towards
children, and love felt towards a wife, there is no need for us
to take cognizance of such differences, or to track out further
the nature and origin of the emotions.
PROP. LVII. Any emotion of a given individual differs from the
emotion of another individual, only in so far as the essence of
the one individual differs from the essence of the other.
Proof.-This proposition is evident from Ax. i. (which see
after Lemma iii. Prop. xiii., Part II.). Nevertheless, we will
prove it from the nature of the three primary emotions.
All emotions are attributable to desire, pleasure, or pain,
as their definitions above given show. But desire is each man’s
nature or essence (III. ix. note) ; therefore desire in one
individual differs from desire in another individual, only in so
far as the nature or essence of the one differs from the nature
or essence of the other. Again, pleasure and pain are passive
states or passions, whereby every man’s power or endeavour to
persist in his being is increased or diminished, helped or
hindered (III. xi. and note). But by the endeavour to persist in
its being, in so far as it is attributable to mind and body in
conjunction, we mean appetite and desire (III. ix. note) ;
therefore pleasure and pain are identical with desire or
appetite, in so far as by external causes they are increased or
diminished, helped or hindered, in other words, they are every
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