Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Jim Kreines
Reader 2
Ellie Anderson
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2025 Emilio Esquivel Marquez
Abstract
Spinoza is famous for his insistence on the fundamental unity of all things, but he never explains how diverse metaphysical elements can join up to form a unified substance. I argue that this gap in his argument is not an obstacle for Spinoza's systematic metaphysics: although he does not justify the unity-variety relation in strictly rationalist terms, his system is founded on a basic posit that guarantees their union. I describe this central posit, the concept of “expression,” through a detailed reading of Spinoza’s pivotal argument for the diversity of attributes in Ethics 1P10S. I propose that Spinoza’s theory of expression, and not his rationalism, is the explanatory engine of his monist project, a fact we overlook when focusing narrowly on the unity-variety tension.
Recommended Citation
Esquivel Marquez, Emilio, "Expression in Spinoza’s Metaphysics of Attributes" (2025). Pomona Senior Theses. 358.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/358
