Spinoza is saying mind and body are knowable
expressions of substance
substance is one - it is not divided - but it
can be known through these expressions
so mind and body are really alternative accounts
of the one substance
the mind is the idea of the body - in the sense that -
it is like a reflection in a mirror
in such a case - there is the body - and -
the mirror image
and if we could adopt an outsider's view -
sub specie aeternitatis
we would say - there are not two things - rather one
in two dimensions
and what that 'one' is - can only be explained as an
extended thing (the body) or its image (idea)
beyond these descriptions - mind and body - nothing
can be said of substance - but that it exists -
and is unrestricted - and this we know from logic
human beings are expressions - modes of substance -
exhibiting the attributes of mind and extension
we are these expressions - and we know that we are
these expressions
so what I am saying is that the human being -
can only see what is expressed - mind and body
as to an essence over and above this -
Spinoza I think would say - there is nothing more to say
another way to put it - might be to say -
that the human being - beyond what we see - what is
expressed is like substance itself - unknown - a mystery -
however I don't think Spinoza would take this path -
as it might be seen as a concession to scepticism
on the question of 'ideas of ideas' -
this ability that we have - to have ideas and ideas
of our ideas - endlessly
is really just a reflection of - the attribute of
extension - the physical world
its essential characteristic being - its inexhaustibility
I know my body through its ideas
and I know my ideas (my ideas have content) through
my body (my body is what is known)
philosophers have characteristically seen two questions
here - one of knowledge - one of existence - what we know
and what is
for Spinoza the two questions are versions of each other -
to answer one is to answer the other
we must always deal with both - together - for what exists
is what is known and what is known is what exists
Spinoza has no doubt
