SPINOZA, BARUCH (BENEDICT)

(1632-1677) Dutch Jewish philosopher; wrote 1. Ethics Based on Geometry and 2. Theologico-Political Treatise . Reality is Infinite Substance or God. "By God, I mean a being absolutely infinite a substance consisting in infinite attributes." From the human standpoint, two attributes are intelligible: consciousness (mind) and extension (matter). mind and body, thought and motion, are parallel; the causal succession of physical events is paralleled by the logical succession of ideas ( parallelism ). God and the universe are one ( pantheism ). God is immanent cause not creator. All events are interdependent and necessary ( determinism ). "The whole endless series of bodies with their divisions, forms, and motions, are the modes of extension (matter), just as the endless series of minds with their ideas and volitions are the modes of consciousness (mind)." Spinoza's monism attempts the reconciliation of idealism and materialism . He is a rationalist in epistemology ; pantheist in metaphysics .