SPINOZA 



nature of a triangle it follows from Eternity, through 

 Eternity, that its three angles will equal two right 

 angles. 



" From like reasoning he rejects the theory of a 

 purpose (Teleology), and that God works all things 

 with reference to the good (sub ratione boni). That 

 which is done is good, indeed absolutely good, because 

 the nature of an all perfect Being brings this with it of 

 itself, but not because this Being had either first made 

 a resolution that it all must be good, or because the 

 good presents itself to him as an ideal that he must 

 follow." In a similar course of reasoning he with- 

 draws the love of man from God, and the desire that 

 man should love Him. Spinoza thus, after identify- 

 ing God with, and as existing in, the nature of man 

 and the material world, ultimately, through his rea- 

 soning, withdraws nearly all attributes from him, 

 so that little more is left than the vague, indistinct 

 idea of an eternal, infinite, intelligent existence. 



NICHOLAS MALEBRANCHE (son of a Secretary of 

 Louis XIII. and treasurer of a large part of the royal 

 revenues) was born 6th of August, 1638. A certain 

 malformation from his birth that entailed continued 

 ill-health obliged his parents to give him a domestic 

 education until he was able to enter a course of Phil- 

 osophy, from which he passed to the Sorbonne to 

 pursue his theological studies. His taste for retire- 



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