THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



lectual love of God.* The basis around which his 

 conceptions all turn are the substance with its attri- 

 butes and modifications. By substance he under- 

 stands whatever is, is in itself, and can be appre- 

 hended in itself; that is, whose apprehension does not 

 require the comprehension of something else of which 

 it must be formed. This corresponds to the axiom : 

 "Everything that is, is either in itself, or in another; 

 that which cannot be comprehended through some- 

 thing else must be apprehended in itself." f With the 

 idea of substance is united the idea of the cause 

 thereof. By the latter he understands that essential 

 which includes existence in itself, or that, whose 

 nature cannot be thought of otherwise than as exist- 

 ing. The idea of substance is complemented by the 

 characteristics of infinite existence, and of exclusive 

 existence. For he asserts (first) the substance must 

 be infinite ; (second) that there can be but one sub- 

 stance. In regard to the first a Scholium says : 

 " Since the finite is a partial negation, while the in- 

 finite is an unqualified affirmation of existence, it fol- 

 lows from what has been shown that the substance, 



*Enc. Brit., 9th Edit. Art. Cartesianism. 



f "Alles was 1st, its entweder in sich oder in einem andern. Was 

 nicht durch ein anderes begriffen werden kann, muss durch sich 

 selbst begriffen werden." (J. Meyer, Kons, Lex'n, Bd. 39 S. 1104- 

 Spinoza. 



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