Human Bondage, or the Strength of the Emotions on Superphysics

Definitions

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Preface

Bondage is the human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions.

When a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master. He lies at the mercy of fortune.

Propositions 1 to 13

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1. No positive quality possessed by a false idea is removed by the presence of what is true, in virtue of its being true.

Proof: Falsehood consists solely in the privation of knowledge which inadequate ideas involve (2.35), nor have they any positive quality on account of which they are called false (2.33.)

Propositions 1 to 13

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7. An emotion can only be controlled or destroyed by another emotion contrary thereto, and with more power for controlling emotion.

Proof: Emotion, in so far as it is referred to the mind, is an idea, whereby the mind affirms of its body a greater or less force of existence than before (cf. the general Definition of the Emotions at the end of Part 3).

Propositions 14 to 19

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14. A true knowledge of good and evil checks our emotion, not by being true, but by the strength of that knowledge.

Proof: An emotion is an idea, whereby the mind affirms the existence of its body.

Propositions 20 to 27

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20. The more every man endeavours, and is able to seek what is useful to him—in other words, to preserve his own being—the more is he endowed with virtue

On the contrary, in proportion as a man neglects to seek what is useful to him, that is, to preserve his own being, he is wanting in power.

Propositions 28 to 71

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28. The mind’s highest good is the knowledge of God, and the mind’s highest virtue is to know God.

Proof: The mind is not capable of understanding anything higher than God, that is (I. Def. vi.), than a Being absolutely infinite, and without which (I. xv.) nothing can either be or be conceived.

Propositions 35

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35. Only the men who live in obedience to reason always necessarily agree in nature.

Corollary 1: There is no individual thing in nature, which is more useful to man, than a man who lives in obedience to reason.

For that thing is to man most useful, which is most in harmony with his nature (4.31. Coroll.).

Propositions 37

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38. Whatsoever disposes the human body, so as to render it capable of being affected in an increased number of ways, or of affecting external bodies in an increased number of ways, is useful to man.

and is so, in proportion as the body is thereby rendered more capable of being affected or affecting other bodies in an increased number of ways.

Propositions 47

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47. Emotions of hope and fear cannot be in themselves good.

Note: These emotions show defective knowledge and an absence of power in the mind.

For the same reason confidence, despair, joy, and disappointment are signs of a want of mental power.

Propositions 58

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58. Honour (gloria) is not repugnant to reason, but may arise therefrom.

Note: Empty honour, as it is styled, is self-approval, fostered only by the good opinion of the populace.

Propositions 66

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66. We may, under the guidance of reason, seek a greater good in the future in preference to a lesser good in the present, and we may seek a lesser evil in the present in preference to a greater evil in the future.

Proof: If the mind could have an adequate knowledge of things future, it would be affected towards what is future in the same way as towards what is present (4.62).

The Right Way of Life

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I arrange the right way of life piece—meal.

All our endeavours or desires so follow from the necessity of our nature, that they can be understood either through it alone, as their proximate cause, or by virtue of our being a part of nature, which cannot be adequately conceived through itself without other individuals.