the point of D.I. - cause of itself
is to show the limit of explanation
to make clear that explanation finally has an object
and that the object - is what is to be explained
defining that object - is the adventure of thought
but that it is - despite any understandings - any conception
is just the very point of the endeavour
there is to be no endless chain of reasoning or observation
for such a process has - by it's very nature
lost sight of it's own reason
Spinoza quite reasonably calls that which is the object
of thought and action -
substance
and I think he is clear that we cannot know it - though
you wouldn't know this from his argument - and I think
because he was primarily concerned with what can be
known and the conditions of this knowledge
he was from the beginning an existentialist - I don't
mean this in the modern sense - but rather in the sense
that his focus was squarely on existence - people
existing -
but as to the nature of substance - the nature of nature -
the nature of God - he is modest in his claims - modest
but sure
he begins and ends just with what we are - extension
and thought
he says these are two of an infinite number of
possibilities -
for the infinite number of attributes read -
what we don't know
what we do know is thought and the physical world
these are expressions - bone fide - of reality -
that which is to be accounted for -
and it's - all here - ready to read - the patterns
and possibilities of thought and the nature of the
physical world -
in this sense there is no mystery
the question is how to put these - perhaps apparently
disparate attributes -
characteristics together?
how to understand the relation between knowing and
what we know?
and there is nothing to it -
it is just this - knowing and the known -
two dimensions of the one existence
the subject and the object
as to why this - why this reality - this existence -
this arrangement?
there is no answer
the question is not existentially meaningful
reason being - it is no other way
the world we live in just is as it is
how best to describe - if it is necessary to describe
and it is clear that given the passions of man -
and the violence and turbulence that results from their
reign and expression
there is a place for clear explanation
it is not only desirable - it is necessary
necessary - because false gods are always being invented
to the service of discord
