Conceptual Dependence Monism

Chapter three examines Spinoza’s views on metaphysical dependence, in which the role of the conceptual is arguably the clearest. Spinoza uses some twenty-two different terms for dependence in the opening pages of the Ethics, and a fierce interpretive debate has erupted over how to understand the relations among these seemingly different forms of dependence. This chapter argues that Spinoza holds an especially austere view, which is here named conceptual dependence monism: there is exactly one form of metaphysical dependence, and it is conceptual in kind. This interpretation is defended on both textual and systematic grounds, pointing out some of its implications for our understanding of other, more familiar Spinozistic doctrines. Along the way, a clearer understanding is also gained of Spinoza’s explanatory requirements in metaphysics.