Observations placeholder
Spinoza, Baruch - Ethics - Function dependency
Identifier
002439
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Again the word ‘idea’ or ‘thought’ means function or sub-system - software. Thus Nature is a system consisting of inter-related sub-systems and inter-related functions, a vast network of inter related functions. Cause and effect in this context are simply the end result of those functions having been ‘executed’. A function executes and produces an ‘effect’ - an end result, - which in turn simply triggers a new function
A description of the experience
Baruch Spinoza - Ethics
Hence, so long as things are considered as modes of thinking, we must explain the order of the whole of Nature, or the connection of causes, through the attribute of thought alone. And insofar as they are considered as modes of extension, the order of the whole of Nature must be explained through the attributes of extension alone….. the order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of causes. Therefore the cause of one single idea is another idea