Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Spinoza's Ethics: I.A4: Knowledge of Effect

I see I.A4 as relating to either Knowing or the attribute of thought (two significantly different interpretations) as the emphasis is on cognitio or "knowledge" in the same way as I.A3 deal with either Being or the attribute of extension (again significantly different interpretations) where cause and effect are related. He is careful to stress in this axiom the kind of connection of cause and effect. Again, a level of inherence that requires not only "depends" but also "involves." The absence of any so-called wiggle room seems to imply a level of determinism that works at large scale, but seems diminished at smaller scales. It will be interesting to see how this is addressed. 

Effectus cognitio a cognitione causae dependet et eandem involvit.

Translated as,

The knowledge of an effect depends on and involves the knowledge of its cause.

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