Spinoza would argue that his concept of substance -
is not just a theory about the idea of concept
he might well agree that you cannot have a concept of
'no concept' - or a concept that denies concept -
he would say this is not what he is on about
his argument? - that the idea of substance is not an idea
about the logic of concept - but rather about the nature
of reality -
that the real question is about the object of the concept -
it is the object that is limitless - not the concept -
so perhaps here for Spinoza a distinction between the
concept of substance and substance
but how does Spinoza establish the existence of the object
of the concept -
how does Spinoza establish the existence of substance?
his argument is that substance is conceived through itself -
a conception that is not dependent on any other conception
so what is its basis - and how does it come about?
my point is - in terms of Spinoza's definition of substance -
there is no object of consciousness
that which is outside of it -
Spinoza states just this
so it is a conception conceived through itself
if this - I say it is a theory about concept
and then my argument of the previous post follows
but it is true Spinoza is not just - putting a theory
of concept here
in fact I think he thinks he is not doing this at all
in this he is mistaken
he thinks he is making a substantial claim
a claim of substance
that his concept - of substance - just does - correspond to
- a non-conceptual reality
that this concept - when understood - is understood to refer
to - what it refers to -
in fact Spinoza argues that the concept itself entails
existence
so if you have a concept of limitlessness and it is well
formed - logical
what it refers to - must as a 'fact of logic' - exist
so there is a confusion here - in Spinoza between logic
and existence
logical statements do not refer to what exists -
they are statements of the relations of ideas
Spinoza comes back here and says -
yes but ideas exist -
yes but do they exist as Spinoza would have it -
as extended things do - out there - objectively -
or are they rather just the way we think about -
what is out there - objectively?
