Ouphilpo

Spinoza’s concept of freedom is slightly different than his predecessors within his determined world. In this sense freedom becomes, “that…which exists from the necessity of its nature alone, and is determined to act by itself alone,” (Spinoza 115) and acting out of this ‘necessary nature’ is the path to freedom. “It pertains to the nature of a substance to exist,” (Spinoza 117) meaning, for man, freedom is existence, or persistence. Spinoza emphasizes the immortality and eternal nature of man as the root of his freedom. “Since being finite is really, in part, a negation, and being infinite is an absolute affirmation of the existence of some nature, it follows…that every substance must be infinite” (Spinoza 117). This follows because the nature a substance is its existence. If Spinoza were to assume finitude he would define an ending point to the substance’s nature.
The metaphysical aspect of Spinoza’s concept of freedom comes when he uses the existence of humans as proof for the existence God. Spinoza outwardly asserts the existence of a God of infinite attributes. He claims, “If you deny this, conceive, if you can, that God does not exist. Therefore [“A7: If a thing can be conceived as not existing, its essence does not involve existence”] his essence does not involve existence. But this [“P7: it pertains to the nature of a substance to exist”] is absurd. Therefore God necessarily exists, q.e.d.” (Spinoza 119). He continues, “either nothing exists or an absolutely infinite Being exists. But we exist, either in ourselves, or in something else, which necessarily exists. Therefore an absolutely infinite Being—i.e., God—necessarily exists, q.e.d.” (Spinoza 120). Spinoza’s understanding of God is “a substance consisting of an infinity of attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence” (Spinoza 115). By defining God in such a way, to separate God from man would limit the infinite nature of God; for God would not be man, thus limiting God’s definitive infinite nature. Therefore, for Spinoza, there is only one substance with many attributes from which all things are conceived. “Matter is everywhere the same…its parts are distinguished only modally, but not really” (Spinoza 123), for we can continually look deeper into space and closer into our cells and never reach an end in either direction. If this is the case, God and man are one in the same substance, and because we are sure that we exist, we can rest assured that God exists. Our freedom comes in the ability to exist as man as such—living out of the same partition as an infinite being. Our freedom as the obedience to an existential order is not a restriction—obeying a law you impose is freedom.