Daniel Forbes schreef dissertatie over “Spinoza’s conception of the infinite” - #spinoza

“the infinite is present in the very small as well”
dr. Daniel Forbes
[cf. West Chester University Philosophy Department Newsletter
Vol 16, Summer 2013, p. 9]

Het volgende ontdekte ik bij het verder zoeken naar of en in hoeverre de benadering van Frank Lucash in de Spinoza-literatuur aandacht kreeg. Die verdere speurtocht deed mij de dissertatie ontdekken van Daniel Alan Forbes. Momenteel, sinds 2007, is hij werkzaam op de afd. filosofie aan de West Chester University of Pennsylvania [cf. zijn academia.edu-pagina]. In 2004 doctoreerde hij aan de University of Georgia, gevestigd in Athens in de staat Georgia:

Daniel Alan Forbes, SPINOZA’S CONCEPTION OF THE INFINITE. Phd-thesis, University of Georgia, ATHENS, GEORGIA, 2004 [cf. html en PDF]

In deze dissertatie komt enige malen de benadering van Lucash langs. Het is duidelijk dat Forbes zich intensief bezighield met de thematiek die ons hier op dit blog bezighoudt. Ik neem het abstract en de inhoudsopgave van zijn proefschrift over, waaruit dat duidelijk blijkt. Toen hij aangesteld was aan de West Chester University, introduceerde de voorzitter van de Afd. Filosofie hem aldus: “Dr. Dan Forbes joined the Philosophy Department in the fall of 2007. His research areas include the history of early modern philosophy, metaphysics, and epistemology. His dissertation examined the role of the infinite in Spinoza‟s metaphysics, and he is currently exploring the structure and function of Spinoza’s geometrical method of exposition in the Ethics. Etc. [PDF, alleen de eerste regels].

Abstract: In this dissertation I focus on a difficult problem in Spinoza’s metaphysics: how modes, which exist dependently, “follow” from substance (or God), which exists absolutely independently. In Chapter One I argue that Spinoza’s conception of infinity is key to resolving this problem. Infinitely many modes “follow” from infinite substance because substance consists of infinite attributes. However, the infinity of substance is unique and indivisible whereas the infinity of modes is manifold and divisible. The infinity of the attributes must somehow mediate between substance and modes. In Chapter Two I explore Spinoza’s conception of infinite substance. The absolute infinity of substance is absolutely positive, the “absolute affirmation” of its essence. This absolute affirmation consists in the expression of substance in infinite attributes; in Chapter Three I argue (following Gilles Deleuze) that the attributes are infinitely many yet nondenumerable; hence substance is infinitely yet indivisibly plural. However, though each attribute has equal power to express substance, the attribute of thought involves ideas of modes of all attributes and seems to express substance most comprehensively. In Chapter Four I develop a solution to this problem, “the thesis of radical mutual containment”: each attribute must contain and be contained by every attribute. This unique expressive relationship between the attributes constitutes the absolute infinity of substance. In Chapter Five I explain how infinite modes “follow” from substance: each attribute insofar as it “contains” all attributes is conceived as an “immediate infinite mode,” and insofar as it is “contained” by an attribute it is conceived as a “mediate infinite mode.” In Chapter Six I explain how finite modes may “follow” from substance: they contain infinity insofar as their infinite divisibility metaphysically presupposes the absolutely indivisible infinity of substance (as is argued by Martial Gueroult), and they are contained within infinity insofar as each finite mode is one of infinitely many expressions of a “thing as it is in itself.” In Chapter Seven I explore some consequences of this reading for metaphysical reductionism and the union of the mind and body.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER

1 SPINOZA’S “LETTER ON THE INFINITE” (LETTER 12).

Introduction
Spinoza’s “Letter on the Infinite”
Infinitum in Ethics IP16
Conclusion.

2 “ABSOLUTE AFFIRMATION”: THE INFINITY OF SUBSTANCE

Introduction
Early Definitions in Ethics I: ID2 and ID6 Exp
IP2-6: Negative Characterizations of Substance
The Necessity and Infinity of Substance: IP7 and IP8|Affirmation and Ideas.
Genetic Definition
The Definition of Infinitum
Conclusion

3 INFINITY AND THE ATTRIBUTES

Introduction
Substance as a Plurality of Attributes: IP9 and IP10
Real Distinction and the Attributes
The “Dual Infinity” Reading of the Attributes
Harris’ Absolute Idealist Interpretation of the Attributes
Deleuze: The Dual Parallelism of Attributes and Powers
James Thomas: The Intuitionist Theory of the Attributes
Conclusion

4 THE THESIS OF RADICAL MUTUAL CONTAINMENT

Introduction
The Thesis of Radical Mutual Containment
Radical Mutual Containment: ID4, IIP7 Schol., and IP10..
Radical Mutual Containment and Absolute Infinity
The Explanatory Power of Radical Mutual Containment
Textual Support for Radical Mutual Containment
Objections to the Thesis of Radical Mutual Containment
Conclusion

5 THE “DEPRECIATION” OF THE INFINITE: THE INFINITE MODES

Introduction
The “Depreciation” of the Infinite
The Definition of ‘Mode’ (ID5)
Why Attributes Must Also Be Modes
How Attributes Are Also Modes, Part One: The Immediate Infinite Mode
How Attributes Are Also Modes, Part Two: The Mediate Infinite Modes
The Immediate and Mediate Infinite Modes as Natural Laws
Infinitum and the Infinite Modes
Conclusion.

6 THE DERIVATION OF THE FINITE: THE FINITE MODES..

Introduction..
What Does It Mean For a Mode to Be “Finite”?
Gueroult on Infinite Divisibility
Deleuze on the Extensive Infinity of “Simplest Bodies”
The Infinite Modifications of Substance
Conclusion.

7 SPINOZA’S SYSTEM OF THE INFINITE

Introduction
Spinoza’s System of the Infinite
Radical Mutual Containment and the “Letter on the Infinite” (Letter 12)
The Metaphor of Containment
Radical Mutual Containment and Metaphysical Reductionism
The Attributes and Representation
The Union of the Mind and Body
Conclusion..

REFERENCES

APPENDIX.

A ABBREVIATIONS AND CITATION