2007-06-09 12:25:51 · 1 answers · asked by shea 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"...Substances must be independent; they can depend on nothing else for their existence. ..."
This is a "continuation" of Descartes' ideas, however Descartes also said that God is a substance. Therefore, we still have an old world attitude possibilty that has a percentage of agency of God leftover on some level in Descartes.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:EcF1jaEi2xUJ:www.trinity.edu/cbrown/modern/spinozaPartI.html+spinoza+substance&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Carefully go through this link I've provided and look for the quote I started with. Spinoza came up with a geometrical method to reduce ALL (including God) to being one substance, and so, since a substance can depend on nothing else for its existence, a person has sole agency over his or herself.
Good Luck!
2007-06-10 13:27:44 · answer #1 · answered by M O R P H E U S 7 · 7⤊ 0⤋