GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

SUBJECTIVIST THEORY OF ETHICS 359
expressions of the universe's nature. The good
of the
individual is, as we have seen, whatever contributes to
the vigour of his bodily being; his evil, whatever contri-
butes to the diminution of his well-being and the thwarting
of his desires* Now the good of one individual will be
different from the good of another, since what conduces
to my well-being may militate against yours. Hence the
notion of good is relative, relative, that is to say, to the
individual, and the same thing can, therefore, be both
good and bad at the same time, which means in effect
that in itself it is neither good nor bad.
Value, being a product of human needs, can have no
meaning apart .from them. The individual mind has,
however, Spinoza points out, a disposition to project its
own creations upon the universe at large, and to father
on to the external world its personal preferences and
prejudices. It is thus led to regard good and evil as absolute
concepts binding upon God, whereas they are in effect
nothing more than the personal likes or dislikes ofindividual
men.
To sum up, Spinoza reduces ethics to a series of what
we should now call rationalizations. The universe possesses
no ethical characteristics, and ethical terms are without
meaning apart from human minds. Human minds, impelled
by the needs of their bodies, strive to emphasize their
individuality; they strive, that is to say, to achieve an
enhanced vigour and abundance of life. Whatever conduces
to this end gives them pleasure; accordingly, they call it
"good." This "good" they project outwards on to the canvas
of an ethically neutral universe, and then acclaim as in-
dependent facts the figments of their own creation. Such,
broadly, is Spinoza's explanation of the existence ofso-called
moral values on the basis of a thorough-going Egoism.
Modification of Spinoza's Determinism. Since I am
including an account of Spinoza's ethics in a chapter
devoted to subjcctivist theories, I have naturally stressed
the purely egoistic aspect of his views. It should, however,