The first part of the book addresses the relationship between God and the universe. Tradition held that God exists outside of the universe, created it for a reason, and could have created a different universe if he so chose. Spinoza denies each point. According to Spinoza, God is the natural world. As with many of Spinoza's claims, what this means is a matter of dispute. Spinoza claims that the things that make up the universe, including human beings, are God's "modes." This means that we and everything else are, in some sense, dependent upon God.

The Ethics - Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata - by Benedict de Spinoza - Translated from the Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order (Latin: Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata), usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical treatise written by Benedict de Spinoza. It was first published in 1677. The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the method of Euclid in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and axioms from which he attempts to derive hundreds of propositions and corollaries, such as "When the Mind imagines its...

Excerpt from Ethic: Demonstrated in Geometrical Order, and Divided Into Five Parts, Which Treat (1) Of God; (2) Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind; (3) Of the Nature and Origin of the Affects; (4) Of Human Bondage, or of the Strength of the Affects; (5) Of the Power of The
It is perhaps impossible to understand any philosophy without a knowledge of the life and personality of which it is the expression. Of Spinozism this is especially the case, for, whether we view it from the standpoint of the thought or that of the thinker of the thought, the two fuse into one organic and consistent...

The present collection of writings includes all the most critical works of Spinoza, including the Theologico-Political Treatise, the Political Treatise, the Ethics, "On the Improvement of the Understanding," and a collection of Spinoza's Correspondence. It was originally published as two volumes in 1884, and is here reformatted into a single volume. From the Introduction: "Spinoza conceived as a vast unity all existence actual and possible; indeed, between actual and possible he recognizes no distinction, for, if a thing does not exist, there must be some cause which prevents its existing, or...