Story 1Can we be responsible if we could not have done otherwise?
Spinoza — Freedom through understanding, not an uncaused will
The question that opens it
If every action has causes, can understanding those causes make us freer?
What changes as you read the work
- 1
For Spinoza, a human mental action is not free in the sense of being determined by an undetermined faculty of will.
Check the evidence
This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.
Spinoza's Psychological Theory
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Introduction; Ethics IIp48
Open source
- 2
Yet he allows degrees of freedom insofar as action follows from one’s nature and adequate understanding rather than external interference.
Check the evidence
This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.
Spinoza's Psychological Theory
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Introduction; §3 Human Freedom
Open source