Post 3 #268

Spinoza's was born in Amsterdam in 1632; he was the son of asuccessful Portuguese Jewish Merchant he was a well educated man.Spinoza is best known for his ethics, in which most of his philosophyreflects his ethics. Most would say his philosophy is best describedas pantheistic. This is because pantheism views that immanentabstract God and or that the universe, nature and God areequivalent. Which helps to show how Spinoza is a strong believer ingod and nature it self which I feel has a strong impact in both hisphilosophy and ethics, when you read his writings you can see rightaway you can identify that those are Spinoza writings. Spinozastates "God is no longer the transcendent creator of the universe whorules it via providence, but Nature itself."One philosophy I want to focus on that reflects some of his ethic,is that he is a big believer of free will one philosophy that I wantto focus on to really understand Spinoza ethics. In his Ethics ofconatus guidance of reason, Spinoza states "life lived by the 'free-man' – is one that is lived by the guidance of reason rather thanunder the sway of the passions." Also, "everyone love himself, seekhis own advantage, what is really useful to him, want what willreally lead a man to greater perfection, and absolutely, thateveryone should strive to preserve his own being as far as he can."These two statements from Spinoza's writing I feel reflect back tofree will as a human being.In conclusion, I feel in today society we use free will to ouradvantage as human being's; which is a big part in Spinoza'sphilosophy. Our country is all about freedom and Spinoza would morethen like is proud that his philosophy might have helped out countryto make these decisions in our constitution of the Untied State ofAmerica.