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Baruch Spinoza
Ethics, Émile Saisset’s French Translation Section section-0221
Section 221 of 300
Canonical reference section-0221
French
Émile Saisset or Paul Janet
Scholie I : Celui qui fait effort, uniquement par passion, pour que les autres aiment ce qu’il aime et pour qu’ils vivent à son gré, celui-là, n’agissant de la sorte que sous l’empire d’une aveugle impulsion, devient odieux à tout le monde, surtout à ceux qui ont d’autres goûts que les siens et s’efforcent en conséquence à leur tour de les faire partager aux autres. De plus, comme le bien suprême que la passion fait désirer aux hommes est souvent de nature à ne pouvoir être possédé que par un seul, il en résulte que les amants ne sont pas toujours d’accord avec eux-mêmes, et, tout en prenant plaisir à célébrer les louanges de l’objet aimés craignent de persuader ceux qui les écoutent. Au contraire, ceux qui s’efforcent de conduire les autres par la raison n’agissent point avec impétuosité, mais avec douceur et bienveillance, et ceux-là sont toujours d’accord avec eux-mêmes.
English AI-generated translation, non-official
Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11
Scholium I: He who strives, solely from passion, to make others love what he loves and live according to his wishes, acting in this way only under the sway of a blind impulse, becomes hateful to everyone, especially to those whose tastes differ from his and who consequently strive in turn to make others share them. Moreover, since the supreme good that passion causes men to desire is often of such a nature that it can be possessed by only one person, it follows that lovers are not always in agreement with themselves and, while taking pleasure in celebrating the praises of the beloved object, fear persuading those who listen to them. On the contrary, those who strive to guide others by reason do not act impetuously, but with gentleness and benevolence, and they are always in agreement with themselves.
Concepts in this passage
Adequate idea
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Affects
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Attribute
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Conatus
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Desire
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Family
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Freedom
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God
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Intellectual love of God
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Messiah
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Mode
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Nature
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Necessity
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Pleasure
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Power to act
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Reason
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Ren, humaneness
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Substance
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Suffering
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