Topics:
● Émilie du Châtelet
○ 3 great machines of happiness
■ Tastes & passions
■ Prejudice
■ Illusion
● Rene Descartes
○ Happiness & sovereign good
○ Dreaming argument
○ Painter analogy
○ Ball of wax analogy
○ God dilemma
○ Cogito
○ A priori vs. a posteriori
○ Method of doubt
○ Mind-body dualism
○ Substances
○ Causal adequacy principle & cosmological argument
○ Clear & distinct perception
○ Cartesian circle
○ Error
● Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia
○ Objection to dualism
○ Objection to Descartes’ account of happiness
● Anton Amo
○ Spirits
■ A mind is an immaterial, simple, indivisible, purely active substance. Its
essence is to operate (operari)
■ Immaterial substances that are always actively cognizing
■ Spirits are the same as minds & souls
■ Spirits must have their own will, so they act for their own reasons
○ Passions
■ Passions are passive
■ They are affective states → so can’t be active
■ Only the body can receive passions
○ Mind-body relationship (commerce between mind and body)
■ Mind can’t move the body but mind uses the body as a vessel
, ● The mind uses the body as the subject in which it is present and as
an instrument & medium of its operation
■ The mind affects the body, but the body can’t affect the mind (because
spirits can’t experience passions)
● But Amo doesn’t explain how the mind affects the body
○ Spirits can’t experience passions
■ Passions can’t be communicated to spirit from the body because the mind
and body are opposites (immaterial & material)
● Only the body can receive passions
■ Mind can’t be penetrated because it has no parts
■ Passions can’t be communicated via contact, because the mind is
immaterial
○ Spirits can’t be compelled by other spirits
■ A spirit must have its own will and act for its own reasons, so it can’t be
compelled by another spirit’s reasons
■ The spirit would have to be passive to receive another spirit’s reasons, but
the spirit is always active
● Baruch Spinoza
○ Substance vs. attributes vs. modes
■ Substance that which is in itself and conceived through itself.
● There’s only one substance: God
● Substance is self-caused because it can only be conceived through
itself
● Conceivability is a guide to possibility, so substance can’t depend
on something else for its existence
■ Attributes: what the intellect perceives as the essence of substance
● There are infinite attributes
● Attributes don’t have a truth value → it’s just how we perceive
substance
■ Modes: ways that substance can be
● Modes can only be understood through something else → ex:
process of applying for a fellowship can’t be understood without
understanding plans, people, meetings, etc.
● What Descartes called a thinking substance is really just a mode
with the attribute of thought
● Modes can have modes
○ Finite modes
■ Artist analogy
● Émilie du Châtelet
○ 3 great machines of happiness
■ Tastes & passions
■ Prejudice
■ Illusion
● Rene Descartes
○ Happiness & sovereign good
○ Dreaming argument
○ Painter analogy
○ Ball of wax analogy
○ God dilemma
○ Cogito
○ A priori vs. a posteriori
○ Method of doubt
○ Mind-body dualism
○ Substances
○ Causal adequacy principle & cosmological argument
○ Clear & distinct perception
○ Cartesian circle
○ Error
● Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia
○ Objection to dualism
○ Objection to Descartes’ account of happiness
● Anton Amo
○ Spirits
■ A mind is an immaterial, simple, indivisible, purely active substance. Its
essence is to operate (operari)
■ Immaterial substances that are always actively cognizing
■ Spirits are the same as minds & souls
■ Spirits must have their own will, so they act for their own reasons
○ Passions
■ Passions are passive
■ They are affective states → so can’t be active
■ Only the body can receive passions
○ Mind-body relationship (commerce between mind and body)
■ Mind can’t move the body but mind uses the body as a vessel
, ● The mind uses the body as the subject in which it is present and as
an instrument & medium of its operation
■ The mind affects the body, but the body can’t affect the mind (because
spirits can’t experience passions)
● But Amo doesn’t explain how the mind affects the body
○ Spirits can’t experience passions
■ Passions can’t be communicated to spirit from the body because the mind
and body are opposites (immaterial & material)
● Only the body can receive passions
■ Mind can’t be penetrated because it has no parts
■ Passions can’t be communicated via contact, because the mind is
immaterial
○ Spirits can’t be compelled by other spirits
■ A spirit must have its own will and act for its own reasons, so it can’t be
compelled by another spirit’s reasons
■ The spirit would have to be passive to receive another spirit’s reasons, but
the spirit is always active
● Baruch Spinoza
○ Substance vs. attributes vs. modes
■ Substance that which is in itself and conceived through itself.
● There’s only one substance: God
● Substance is self-caused because it can only be conceived through
itself
● Conceivability is a guide to possibility, so substance can’t depend
on something else for its existence
■ Attributes: what the intellect perceives as the essence of substance
● There are infinite attributes
● Attributes don’t have a truth value → it’s just how we perceive
substance
■ Modes: ways that substance can be
● Modes can only be understood through something else → ex:
process of applying for a fellowship can’t be understood without
understanding plans, people, meetings, etc.
● What Descartes called a thinking substance is really just a mode
with the attribute of thought
● Modes can have modes
○ Finite modes
■ Artist analogy
