The Flaws in Spinoza's Proof of the Existence of God in The Ethics Lily Gnazzo College

In Baruch Spinoza’s The Ethics, he attempts to prove that God is the only substance. While the main point of his argument is found in Proposition 14, he relies heavily on the definitions, axioms, and propositions that come before it. Overall, Spinoza proves that God is the only substance by first proving that no two substances can have an attribute in common; thus, there must be one substance with all possible attributes. Furthering his proof, Spinoza determines that God is the substance with an infinite number of attributes; therefore, the attributes that are possessed by any other substances must also be possessed from God. Thus, Spinoza concludes that because no two substances can share any attribute, God is the only substance that exists. Furthermore, if Spinoza is successful in his argument, there would be no problem with Descartes’ mind/body dualism. This is because Spinoza is a substance monist, rejecting the idea that the mind and body are substances because God is the only substance that exists. Lastly, Spinoza’s proof is not convincing because he uses circular reasoning in order to prove God’s existence as the sole substance that has all possible attributes.

In “Part 1. Concerning God”, Spinoza defines substance in...