Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: tainty of his propositions, this we have given over long ago, but his purpose in using this method, how he justified his action and whither its employment logically leads. In our consideration of the geometrical method, therefore, no restrictions whatever are imposed by the apparently disconcerting fact that the Principles is primarily an expression of Descartes' philosophy. And yet, while this work is so truly an expression of the Cartesian philosophy, we shall find both in the Principles and more especially in the Cogitata ample! expression of Spinoza's own belief to enable us to see his point of departure from the philosophy of Descar-l tes, and to understand why he turned not to Theism but to Pantheism as a conception of the World-, Ground. As we proceed we shall find elements which.) taken in connection with some of the metaphysical ten-| ets of Spinoza's early reflections, led him logically and, as it seems, almost necessarily to a pantheistic conception of God. Sufficient data will also be found to throw much light upon the content of this, the most fundamental as well as the most difficult concept of his philosophy, the idea or concept of God. § 3. The geometrical method in Spinoza's Ethics has long been to students of that work both a stumbling-block and foolishness. To the modern mind ingrained with scientific principles and prejudices the method of geometry seems utterly inapt and unfitted for the presentation of philosophical truth. It can but be of the greatest importance, therefore, if we can learn from this early work, our only precedent in Spinoza's writings for the method used in the Ethics, just why Spinoza used the geometrical method in the Principles. And this is our sole chance for learningwhy he employed this method; there is little help to be gained by...