Laws of motion and rest do not exist separately from the objects which

they describe

Every finite thing is the striving to be what it is. The striving to preserve
itself. The striving is not other from the minded ness or the intellect.

I am the striving to preserve my adequate or inadequate understanding

Will is just an aspect of understanding, the striving to preserve itself

The will and the intellect are one in the same Part 2 P.49

Body and Mind both striving to preserve itself

There isnt willing that is separate from understand

For Spinoza, to have a thought is to affirm it. There is no thing known as

infinite willing, we only will in particulars/singulars

Spinoza is tied to the principle of identity, there is nothing in what it is

that makes it what it isnt therefore, if the essence is what the thing is, all
it can do is affirm itself.

Substance is the principle of identity writ large, has no principle of

negation within it.

Finite things are finite examples of that

Why is it contradictory for a thing to cease to exist? It would have to have

within itself that which turns from being to nonbeing. Is this possible?

For Spinoza and Plato this move is not possible

The Form of Beauty makes a thing beautiful, but doesnt make it not
beautiful
The essence of substance is being, it cannot then be have nonbeing

Prop 18 Part 4

Spinoza on suicide if you cant destroy yourself, how can you commit
suicide

Spinoza says they dont. Those who kill themselves are weak minded and
controlled by external causes. There is nothing within themselves
(reasoning or power) that could deprive itself of power. Suicide happens
but is a misnomer, what really happens is youre being lead to destroy
yourself by something else
As finite modes through which Gods power is expressed, once we have
been created, we have a power to exist.

We are finite modes of God, God is the power to be, we must be finite
modes of the power to be. Our power to be throughout the duration of our
existence, which Spinoza describes as a striving a tendency to remain in
being. A globalised inertia principle everything is moved to be what it is.
A direct consequence of the fact we are finite modes of God.

Desire is the ontologically grounded remaining in being, understood as

moving our bodies and minds at the same time

Desire doesnt require a psychological explanation; it is built into what we

are as human beings

Emotions/ Affects introduced in proposition 11. The external objects

modify our conatus by either enhance it or diminish it, and the feeling
from passing from one mode to another, is the conatus

The passage in the character of your desire is what we call emotions

Prop 20 Part 4

Virtue is human power itself

What we strive for in reason is nothing but understanding

The conatus is the striving to be it doesnt want to change

Emotions are the change from one mode to another, caused by the
external influence. The power of the external influence is what determines
the strength of the emotion