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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2025
Spinoza’s most substantive account of contentment (acquiescentia) is found in the Ethics. His discussion of acquiescentia is significant due to the philosophical richness and semantic complexity of this term, which signifies both stillness (quies) and acceptance (acquiescere), as well as self-love (acquiescentia in se ipso). Furthermore, Spinoza defines this polyvalent concept more than once and identifies different kinds of acquiescentia, which are all species of joy that arise when we consider ourselves and our “power of acting” (our capacity to do things autonomously). The differences depend on the kind of cognition that grounds this consideration, together with “the psychological and ethical condition of the person who experiences it” (Carlisle 2017, 210). Examining Spinoza’s account of different kinds of acquiescentia thus provides a better understanding of the complex relationship between his epistemological, ethical, and psychological theories.
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