#### I: God/substance
2 attributes determine identity
3 causal relation establishes commonality
	There is nothing but substances and their affections
5 modifications do not exist outside intellect
	Clear and distinct = true
	Existence/essence of substance is eternal truth
6 more reality = more attributes
7 God exists
8 perfection and existence increase/decrease in unison
10 only substances and modes exist
	Body = "any quantity, with length, breadth, and depth, limited by some certain figure"
15 essence vs. existence
16 God is immanent cause of all things
19 particular things are just affections/modes of God's attributes
	Modes are nothing but affections of God's attributes
20 remote causes
	Natura naturata (passive nature) vs. natura naturans (active nature)
21 intellect is a mode of thinking (differing from desire, love, etc.)
	Will is a mode of thought, and is not free
	"we can understand nothing that does not lead to more perfect knowledge of the intellection"
22 God doesn't "create" anything (anti-Creationism)
	Necessary vs. impossible
23 contingency is a defect of knowledge
	Ascribing freedom to God is a "great obstacle of science"
	God could never decree anything different
25 summary of God's properties
27 mathematics allows humanity to attain divine knowledge
	"All final causes are nothing but human fictions"
29 "the will of god, that is, the sanctuary of ignorance" (contra intelligent design)
29-30 human values determined by what is most pleasing to us
30 good/evil judgments are based on human preferences (via imagination)
	People also like to imagine that God likes/establishes harmony
	The imagination is the source of all this error, and distracts from the actual nature of things
31 for the majority of people, perfection = what is most pleasurable/useful

#### II: human mind and body
31 body is conceived in a "certain and determinate way"
32 ideas are concepts, not precepts
	Adequate vs. true
	Collective agency
34 God's power must not be confused with human power or right of kings
	Ideas not caused by object or perception, but by God
35 necessary path of implication: attribute of thought -> ideas -> objects
	Immanence of the "order and connection" of ideas and things
	Thought and extension are "one and the same substance" explained through different attributes (monism)
	Ideas must be explained through thought alone; things through extension alone
36 EMERGENT PROPERTIES
37 causal chain always leads back to God
38 first priority of philosophy: investigate God
	First constitutive element of a human mind is an idea
39 the object of this constitutive idea is the human body (both of which exist in God)
40 human exists with both mind and body, which are united
41-3 physical doctrine of bodies
	Bodies differentiated by speed and slowness
	Simple vs. composite bodies
	Speed is more important to identity than substance or parts
	Nature can be thought of as a single individual composed of many parts
44 postulates of the human body
	V: skin and memory, inscription
	The mind perceives everything that happens in the body
	Atomism of ideas (each idea composed of partial ideas)
45 causality requires similar nature
	Correlationism: ideas of external bodies indicate our own body more than anything outside of it (and reference to Appendix I)
	Memory
	Habit, leads to error
46 definitions of image and imagine
	Imagination does not always lead to error
	Relation between imagination and habit (in producing error)
	Definition of memory
47 two orders of connection: affections vs. ideas
	Linguistic arbitrariness of the sign thesis
	Relativity of imagination leads to different habits and associations
	Ex. Farmer vs. soldier
	Mind does not know body exists, only knows its affections
48 order and connection of ideas same as for causes (monism)
	Idea of idea: ideas are nested in each other
49 mind perceives affections of body and ideas of these affections
	Mind does not know itself, except through ideas of bodily affections
50 external bodies determine the human body in a certain way (as in structuralist differential signification?)
	Correlationism; External reality is imaginary
51 ideas of affections are confused ideas ("conclusions without premises")
	Ideas arrived at through the body lead to a "mutilated and confused" knowledge
52 internal ("agreements, differences, and oppositions") vs. external (ideas of affections) knowledge
53 free will theory based on ignorance of the cause of one's actions
54 inadequate ideas follow with same necessity as adequate ones
	Things that are common to all must be conceived adequately
56 confused origin of TRANSCENDENTALS and UNIVERSALS (via imagination)
	Even these notions are relative to an individual's experience
57 FOUR LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE: random experience, opinion or imagination, reason, intuition
58 "true idea involves the highest certainty"; truth is the standard of itself (59)
59-60 time is imaginary
60 modes involve the concept of their attribute (i.e. you can always trace the cause from the effect)
62 no free will
	No absolute faculties (any distinction among mental faculties are "complete fictions")
	Reference to Appendix I
	Definition of will: affirming to denying something. ("Not the desire by which the mind wants a thing or avoids it")
63 definition of idea: a concept of thought, not an image
	The will is the intellect
64 goal of this doctrine is to be able to "arrange one's life wisely," and to speculate
	Ideas involve affirmation or negation
	Word and images are merely "corporeal motions," not concepts of thought
66 perception is not indifferent
67 not sure how highly we should esteem suicides, children, fools, and madmen
67-8 ethical and social benefits of the doctrine (foreshadowing of final chapter)

#### III: emotional psychology, or the affects
69 nature has no defect
	Affects (emotions) are part of nature and work by the same necessity
	Human actions and appetites must be analyzed like "planes, lines, and bodies"
70 definition of affect: increase/decrease in power of acting (or idea of this power)
	Affect is either action or passion
	Body retains "traces" of objects
	By having adequate ideas, the mind also "acts"
71 more inadequate ideas correlate to more passions; more adequate ideas to more actions
	Monism
72 body operates partly autonomously from mind
	Ex. Animals, sleepwalkers
73 infant, angry child, timid, drunk, madman, chatterbox, child
	Decision and determination are really the same
	Decision requires recollection/memory
74 free decisions are imaginary; those who believe in them "dream with open eyes"
75 no self-destruction
	CONATUS Principle: each thing strives to preserve in its being
	This striving = actual essence of thing
76 will vs. appetite: will is striving of the mind; appetite is striving of mind and body, thus the "very essence of man"
	Appetite = desire
	Definition of desire: "Appetite together with the consciousness of the appetite"
	"we neither strive for, nor will, neither want, nor desire anything because we judge it to be good; on the contrary, we judge something to be good because we strive for it, will it, want it, and desire it."
77 joy (passing to greater perfection) vs. sadness (passing to lesser perfection)
	These are both passions, also can be called pleasure/pain, cheerfulness/melancholy
	Three primary affects: joy, sadness, desire
	Mind strives to imagine what increases its power
78  imagination leads to affects in the body
	Love vs. hate (both related to an external cause)
	Habit/imagination can lead to imaginary/ghostly affections: felt, but not really existing
	Imagination of the mind indicates affects of the body more than existence of external objects
80 vacillation of mind: experience of contrary affects
81 hope, fear, confidence, despair, gladness, remorse
82 pity, favor, indignation
83 pride: "a species of madness" where "the man dreams, with open eyes"
84 overestimation, scorn, imitation/emulation
	We strive to free from suffering things we pity
85 benevolence, ambition, human kindness, praise, blame
86 love of esteem, shame, self-esteem, repentance
	Agreement with others empowers our preferences or dislikes
87 desire to have similar preferences as others
	The same nature that makes men compassionate also makes them envious/ambitious
	Children are proof of this entire emotional psychology
89 longing
91 affect is origin of judgement (cf. 76)
	Timidity, sense of shame, consternation
92 anger, vengeance, reciprocal love, thankfulness/gratitude, cruelty
93 "hate…can be destroyed by love"
94 class hatred and racism (just part of our nature) [EUGENIC LOGIC!]
95 love for free things > love of necessary things; so, men love each other more than things
	Good/bad omens
96 principle of difference (all affects and people are different)
	There are as many judgements as affects
	Intrepid, daring, timid, cowardly
97 repentance and self-esteem can be very "violent"
	Wonder, veneration, consternation, dread, devotion, disdain
98 mockery, contempt
	The mind empowers itself as it more distinctly conceives of and rejoices in its power
	Mind strives to only imagine empowering things
	Humility, self-love, self-esteem (onto 99)
99 inherent competition: natural inclination to hate and envy
	Education bolsters competition, since parents teach children to value honor/envy
	Virtue = power of acting
100 every object produces its affect in a different way (as many species of sadness or whatever as there are objects)
	And just as many species of desire
	Gluttony, drunkenness, lust, greed, ambition: not affects or passions, since they have no opposite
101 "desire is the very nature, or essence, of each [individual]"
	Joy and sadness are markers of the increasing or decreasing of desire/appetite (either toward greater or lesser perfection)
102 for each species, their own affects 
	Exs. : horse, insects, etc. ; gladness of a drunk vs. of a philosopher
	All of the past discussion concerned passions, the rest concerns actions
103 moderation, sobriety, presence of mind in danger, courtesy, mercy
	Our contingent fortune makes us feel like we are lost at sea (Stoic metaphor!)
	Enjoyment leads to a new constitution
	Ex. Food and drink, leading to disgust, weariness
104 "appetite is the very essence of man, insofar as it is determined to do what promotes his preservation"
	Joy/sadness is necessarily a PASSAGE
105 primitive or primary affects: joy, sadness, desire
107 pity = compassion
108  right and wrong
	Developmental psychology, children, education
	Relativity of experience/values based on education
109 those we believe to be most humble are usually most envious 
111 cruelty opposed to mercy
	Ambition is always present in desire
112 full definition of affect

#### IV: Bondage/power of affects
113 def. of bondage: fortune > autonomy
114 changing definition of perfection
	Universals complicit in relative perfection
	Appendix I
	Final cause = human appetite
115 humanity conscious of appetite but not its cause (cf. Schopenhauer's principle of will)
	Reality = perfection
	Appendix I
	Good and evil only modes of thinking
	Definition of Good and Evil
116 Beings change according to perfection ("passage"), not essence
117 virtue = power = essence of man
118 human perseverance to exist is limited
119 "the affect stubbornly clings to the man"
120 power struggle of the affects (immanent forces)
	Good and evil = affects (of joy and sadness)
121 Good/evil only conceptually distinct from affect
	Time limits affective force (more present = stronger)
123 truth can't influence affect except as an affect itself (affect > knowledge)
124 goal of investigating reason is determining limits of action
125 dictates of reason
	Virtue = acting from natural laws
	Foundation of virtue = self-preservation
	Virtue is its own reward
	Prohibition of suicide (since contrary to foundation)
	We can never live without dealing with things outside us
126 self-interest is just, honorable, and basis of morality
126-7 only external causes lead one away from self-preservation
	Suicide is the result of external causes dominating
127 "striving to preserve oneself is the first and only foundation of virtue"
128 acting = living = preserving our being
	Only what leads to understanding is useful
129 mind's greatest virtue = to know God
130 a thing is good if it agrees with our nature
131 man is changeable
133 man who helps himself also helps others
	Virtuous action is rational action
134 definition of morality (and honor)
	Friendship
135 contra animal rights
	We can use animals as we please