Philosophical treatise written by Spinoza

Ethics (Spinoza book)

Ethics (Spinoza book)

Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order (<a href="/en/Latin_language" title="Latin language" class="mw-redirect wl">Latin</a>: Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata), usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical <a href="/en/Treatise" title="Treatise" class="wl">treatise</a> written in Latin by <a href="/en/Baruch_Spinoza" title="Baruch Spinoza" class="wl">Baruch Spinoza</a> (Benedictus de Spinoza). It was written between 1661 and 1675<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> and was first published <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/posthumous" title="wikt:posthumous" class="extiw" target="_blank">posthumously</a> in 1677.

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Philosophical treatise written by Spinoza</div>

<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Spinoza_Ethica.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Spinoza_Ethica.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Spinoza_Ethica.jpg/220px-Spinoza_Ethica.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="976" data-file-height="1385" data-file-type="bitmap" height="312" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Spinoza_Ethica.jpg/330px-Spinoza_Ethica.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Spinoza_Ethica.jpg/440px-Spinoza_Ethica.jpg 2x" alt="Spinoza_Ethica.jpg"></a><figcaption>The opening page of Spinoza's <a href="/en/Masterpiece" title="Masterpiece" class="wl">magnum opus</a>, Ethics, in the posthumous Latin first edition</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Baruch_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana,_Vat._lat._12838.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Baruch_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana,_Vat._lat._12838.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg/220px-Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="754" data-file-height="578" data-file-type="bitmap" height="169" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg/330px-Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg/440px-Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg 2x" alt="Manuscript_of_Ethica_by_Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Biblioteca_Vaticana%2C_Vat._lat._12838.jpg"></a><figcaption>A manuscript of Baruch de Spinoza: Ethica in the Biblioteca Vaticana, Vat. lat. 12838. Part 1, theorems 5 (the ending), 6-8. Prop. = Theorem, Dem. = Proof.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda,_De_Naturâ_&_Origine_mentis,_1677.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda,_De_Naturâ_&_Origine_mentis,_1677.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg/220px-Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="750" data-file-height="939" data-file-type="bitmap" height="275" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg/330px-Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg/440px-Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg 2x" alt="Benedictus_de_Spinoza_-_Ethices_Pars_secunda%2C_De_Natur%C3%A2_%26_Origine_mentis%2C_1677.jpg"></a><figcaption>Benedictus de Spinoza: Ethica part 2. Ethices Pars secunda, De Naturâ &amp; Origine mentis, 1677. "On the nature and origin of the Mind".</figcaption></figure>

The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the <a href="/en/Euclid's_Elements#Euclid's_method_and_style_of_presentation" title="Euclid's Elements" class="wl">method of Euclid</a> in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and <a href="/en/Axiom" title="Axiom" class="wl">axioms</a> from which he attempts to derive hundreds of <a href="/en/Propositions" title="Propositions" class="mw-redirect wl">propositions</a> and <a href="/en/Corollaries" title="Corollaries" class="mw-redirect wl">corollaries</a>, such as "When the Mind imagines its own lack of power, it is saddened by it",<a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> "A free man thinks of nothing less than of death",<a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a> and "The human Mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the Body, but something of it remains which is eternal."<a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a>

Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order , usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical treatise written in Latin by Baruch Spinoza . It was written between 1661 and 1675 and was first published posthumously in 1677. The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the method of Euclid in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and axioms from which he attempts to derive hundreds of propositions and corollaries, such as "When the Mind imagines its own lack of power, it is saddened by it", 