'For example, when Spinoza said that love is
nothing but a pleasurable state, joy, accompanied
by the idea of an external cause, he was separating
out with great clarity the process of feeling from
the process of having an idea about an object that can
cause an emotion'
separating out - the process of a feeling -
from the process of having an idea - about an
object - that can cause an emotion
what Spinoza actually says is -
'love is nothing else than pleasure accompanied by
the idea of an external cause'
Pt.III. Prop. XIII. note
there is in this definition no mention of feeling -
process or causing an emotion
Spinoza is saying pleasure accompanied by the idea
of an external cause is love
pleasure
and
the idea of an external cause
this is love
what this definition does is explain the idea of love -
in terms of pleasure - which as an emotion is a
modification of potency - and the idea of an external
cause - as distinct from an internal cause
pleasure and its explanation is love
that is it is not just the increase in power -
it is this plus the idea of an external cause
love is pleasure caused by something outside of
the self
under certain circumstances - you can love anything -
everything
it seems so - on this view
it's a question of what gives you pleasure -
Spinoza thought it is possible to experience the
joy of everything
the intellectual love of God
we are getting ahead of ourselves here
God - watching human affairs would say of love -
it is pleasure or joy accompanied by the idea of
an external cause
that would be His observation as it were
also important to emphasize here too - that it's not
just the having of the emotion of pleasure -
you can experience pleasure - without any accompanying
idea
still pleasure - but not love
the idea of an external cause makes it love
and the idea of course could be true or false
