O objetivo principal dessa nossa pesquisa é investigar a importância da noção de conatus para liberdade humana segundo o pensamento ético do holandês Benedictus Spinoza (1632-1677). Sendo assim, teremos como fundamentação teórica principal, Parte III (Da origem e natureza dos Afetos) Ética, obra máxima Spinoza, bem outros textos deste fim explicitar as relações entre indivíduos os homens podem ...

Spinoza claims that the mind and body are “one and the same.” But he also claims that the mind thinks and does not move, whereas the body moves and does not think. How can we reconcile these claims? As a way of sharpening the challenge, let’s restate it as a puzzle involving Spinoza’s favorite philosophical character: Peter. Suppose that Peter woke up one morning and decided to go for a run. Le...

This article discusses Georg Cantor’s philosophical defence of the existence of actual infinities in mathematics. The metaphysical background to Cantor’s argument is documented, emphasizing the philosophical references in Cantor’s main work, Grundlagen (1883). Cantor’s engagement with the history of philosophy, particularly the writings of Spinoza and Leibniz on infinity, is also documented. Fi...

I propose a new interpretation of Spinoza’s obscure but important concept ‘expression’. Any account Spinozistic expression must be able to fulfil two principal requirements. First, it accommodate all the relevant cases ‘to express’ (exprimire) posited by Spinoza in Ethics. Second, deal with fact that for instances are involve’ (involvere). By taking both and as coextensive conceive’, contempora...