Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 00:25:29 +0200 (CEST)
From: janstr-AT-chan.nl (Jan Straathof)
Subject: Re: PB and New Concepts


John Evans wrote:

>I think "conatus" is a term of Spinoza's, referring to an organism's
>attempt to persist in its own being ...

yes, John, you're right, proposition 6 in part 3 of his Ethics reads as
follows: "Every thing aspires, as must as possible, to persevere in its
own existance." (conatus sese conservandi)
And in proposition 7 he bluntly declares that this aspiration (conatus)
is nothing other than the (real) essence of the thing itself.

jan


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