Here Spinoza outlines the structure of perceiving or comprehending - activity of the intellect which, as I posted earlier, operates from somewhere. This is in contrast to conceiving which is capable of knowing substance as substance as a view from nowhere. The delineation sets up for conceive/perceive/imagine as a spectrum of activities of the mind.
Intellectus actu finitus aut actu infinitus Dei attributa Deique affectiones comprehendere debet et nihil aliud.
Translated as,
An intellect, whether finite in action or infinite in action, must comprehend God's attributes and God's modifications and nothing else.
Demonstratio: Idea vera debet convenire cum suo ideato (per axioma 6) hoc est (ut per se notum) id quod in intellectu objective continentur, debet necessario in natura dari. Atqui in natura (per corollarium I propositionis 14) non nisi una substantia datur nempe Deus nec ullae aliae affectiones (per propositionem 15) quam quae in Deo sunt et quae (per eandem propositionem) sine Deo nec esse nec concipi possunt; ergo intellectus actu finitus aut actu infinitus Dei attributa Deique affectiones comprehendere debet et nihil aliud. Q.E.D.
Translated as,
A true idea must agree with its object (by A6), that is (as is known through itself), what is contained objectively in the intellect must necessarily be given in nature. But in nature (by P14C1) there is only one substance, namely, God, and there are no modifications other than those which are in God (by P15) and which can neither be nor be conceived without God (by the same proposition). Therefore, an intellect, whether finite in action or infinite in action, must comprehend God's attributes and God's affections, and nothing else.
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