The Geometrical Method in Spinoza's Ethics

Alan Nelson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Spinoza's master work, the Ethics is famously presented in a geometrical style demonstrating propositions from definitions and axioms. People dispute whether this is merely style or whether Spinoza's philosophy somehow depends  on this form of presentation. I argue that the way in which Spinoza's philosophy requires conscious perceptions of truths, not mere representations of truths, means that the geometrical exposition is a matter of style.