Spinoza's Thinking Substance and the Necessity of Modes

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 89 (3):3-34 (2014)
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Abstract

The paper offers a new account of Spinoza's conception of “substance”, the fundamental building block of reality. It shows that it can be demonstrated apriori within Spinoza's metaphysical framework that (i) contrary to Idealist readings, for Spinoza there can be no substance that is not determined or modified by some other entity produced by substance; and that (ii) there can be no substance (and hence no being) that is not a thinking substance.

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reprint Hübner, Karolina (2016) "Spinoza's Thinking Substance and the Necessity of Modes". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 92(1):3-34

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Karolina Hubner
Cornell University

Citations of this work

Towards an Objectivist Reading of Spinoza's Theory of Attributes.Antonio Salgado Borge - 2025 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy (TBD):1-22.
Spinoza on Action and Immanent Causation.Stephen Zylstra - 2020 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 102 (1):29-55.
Hegel, Spinoza, and the ‘Principle of Individuality’.Shachar Freddy Kislev - 2018 - International Journal of Philosophical Studies 26 (4):499-522.
The unity of substance and attribute in Spinoza.R. Kyle Driggers - 2021 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29 (1):45-63.
Reply to Yenter: Spinoza, Number, and Diversity.Galen Barry - 2016 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 24 (2):365-374.

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References found in this work

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On what grounds what.Jonathan Schaffer - 2009 - In Ryan Wasserman, David Manley & David Chalmers, Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 347-383.
The philosophical writings of Descartes.René Descartes - 1984 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.
The Complete Works: The Rev. Oxford Translation.Jonathan Barnes (ed.) - 1984 - Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

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