Expressão de intensidades: uma leitura sobre o conceito de essência na Ética de Espinosa

Abstract

Considering that essence is traditionally understood as what the nature of the thing is and without which the thing ceases to be what it is, we can think of a question that needs clarification, namely, how Spinoza’s thought can consider that the unique substance can be the subject of infinite attributes that are really distinct from each other, and which are responsible for giving, each one in its own way, the essence of that substance without incurring a contradictory conception that the unique substance, although unique, has infinite natures? This question motivates the discussions raised in this article that aims to investigate and offer an interpretation about the notion of essence in Spinoza's Ethics