Benedict de Spinoza · Philosophy
Every thing strives to persist in its own being - this striving (conatus) is its very essence. From it Spinoza derives desire, joy, and sadness, and builds a geometry of the emotions that treats love and hate as effects with causes, not sins to be condemned.
You learned that for Spinoza each thing has a conatus , a striving to persist in its being, which is its actual essence. Explain how desire, joy, and sadness follow from this striving, and why Spinoza studies emotions like a geometer rather than condemning them.
Leads to Hobbes.
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