that which is in itself and conceives through itself
this statement of the nature of substance
needs to be tackled head on
first up there is no question here -
substance just is this -
that which is in itself and conceived through itself
conceived through itself -
conceived as what?
conceived as substance -
substance conceived as substance
that is
substance conceiving itself
what can this mean?
what does it conceive itself as?
as substance
OK
so what does this tell us?
how far does this advance us?
what then - can we say - as a result of this - substance is?
presumably -
only that - it is that which is conceived through itself
so are we told anything at all here?
and another question
how does something conceive itself through itself?
what is the logic of this?
we can ask Spinoza - could substance exist - unconceived?
which is to go to the status of the conception of substance
is this essential to the nature - the being of substance?
there seems to be no room for this in what Spinoza has written
substance is that which conceives itself
substance is a concept - as much as the object of the concept
in fact there is no distinction
there is no subjective / objective distinction here in Spinoza's substance
substance is one
it is here thought and extension
thought is extension
extension is thought
the division we see
that is the foundation of our system of logic
on Spinoza's view is simply failing to the see the essential unity
and oneness at the heart of it all
so mind (conception) is substance
extension is substance
substance in itself is
these attributes - and their infinite companions
beyond attributes - can we speak of substance?
it would seem so - given the initial definition
and what is this - what does it come to?
it comes to X is and X is C (conceived)
and then
X is conceived as X
XCX
the conception of X
is not X1 - it is X
so again
substance in itself - independently of attributes - speaking of it in this way just has to
be unknown
what we know of substance is its attributes
its attributes are perceived
and the question - what is being perceived here?
I perceive extension
I perceive thought
do I have any grounds for assuming these attributes are universal - essential features
of reality?
I don't know if I got to where I wanted to get to here
what interests me is substance conceiving itself
how can this be possible?
surely for this to be
substance would have to be the object of a conception?
and if the conception and its object are in some sense apart
separate
and would not the conception have to be outside of substance
which is not possible
therefore substance
cannot conceive itself
