Spinoza’s critique of final causes

Abstract

The spinosan reformulation of the Aristotelian doctrine of causality proclaims the predominance of the efficient cause and demands the abandonment of the doctrine of final cause. Considered the source of all prejudices, this doctrine is the object of fierce criticism in the appendix of the first part of Spinoza’s Ethics. This article intends to expose this criticism and show how the resumption of this issue in the preface of part IV of the same work does not imply any revision of the previous position.