III.D20: Indignation Defined

Indignatio est odium erga aliquem qui alteri malefecit.

Indignation is hatred towards someone who hurt another.

EXPLICATIO: Hæc nomina ex communi usu aliud significare scio. Sed meum institutum non est verborum significationem sed rerum naturam explicare easque iis vocabulis indicare quorum significatio quam ex usu habent, a significatione qua eadem usurpare volo, non omnino abhorret, quod semel monuisse sufficiat. Cæterum horum affectuum causam vide in corollario I propositionis 27 et scholio propositionis 22 hujus partis.

I know that these names signify something else from common usage. But my intention is not the significance of words but to explain the nature of a thing and to point out with these words whose significance which have from usage, from a significance from which same word I wish to usurp, which is not altogether opposed, let it suffice one time to have been warned. For the cause of these other affects, see IIIP27C1 and IIIP22S.

Translation is always difficult, but Spinoza warns that any philological reading may be incorrect if the reader does not search for the underlying "nature of a thing." The words are in a general sense correct, but do not have a specificity of meaning. This warning is especially relevant as we get to the end of the Ethics where many words are used to indicate the highly desirable affect accompanying our highest state.