Spinoza is identified with the idealist tradition because-

Key Points

• Spinoza is not typically identified with the idealist tradition but is known as a philosopher within the rationalist and pantheist traditions. The idealist tradition, often associated with philosophers like Kant or Hegel, emphasizes the primacy of ideas or consciousness in shaping reality.
• However, Spinoza's philosophy, as expressed in his major work "Ethics," is more closely aligned with a pantheistic worldview, which posits that God and the universe are one and the same.
• In Spinoza's philosophy, he argues for the existence of an infinite, necessary, and eternal substance, which he identifies as God or Nature.
• This substance encompasses everything in the universe, including both material and mental aspects. While Spinoza acknowledges the existence of thought as one of the chief attributes of this substance, it is not the same as asserting the primacy of self or placing sole emphasis on consciousness as the foundation of reality.
• Option 2 is the correct answer as it reflects Spinoza's recognition of an unchanging and abiding existence underlying all things, with the thought being one of its attributes.

The correct answer is 2) he insisted that there is an unchanging and abiding existence undergirding all things, one of the chief attributes of which is thought.