Spinoza’s syllogism

1)There cannot exist in the universe two or more substances having the same nature or attributes.
2)God, who is defined as a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality, necessarily exists.
3)Ergo, besides God, no substance can be granted or conceived.

To Spinoza, God is both thought and extension. In other words, He exists as both the essences of the soul and the body. Of course, God has more than two substances, but because of the limitations of human nature, man can only know and experience two. All in all, there is only one true substance, under which all other substances exist, and this infinite substance is God.

Unfortunately, Spinoza feels that humans are uner the constant illusion tha they have individual freedom, but in reality, they do not. We are ignorant towards the true cause of things, which thus allows atheists to surface, and we are only aware of our own personal desires.

There are many who have argued against Spinoza’s views on free will. He explains it in a way that makes it seem as though free will is taken away because of environmental factors raging around us. For example, if your house catches on fire and you severely burn and scar your arm, our souls are considered caged, for we cannot control these incidents. Many, however, would disagree with this belief to be a strong term to banish free will from human nature, for we as human beings can still decide on how we respond to these unfortunate predicaments. It is in this way that Spinoza lacks the ways of convincing others of the absence of the free soul.