Note 104-2 — Chapter III · THE RATIONAL POSTULATES OF THE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT.

Herbert Spencer, First Principles, p. 112. Spinoza’s famous proposition, previously quoted, Unaquæque res quantum in se est, in suo esse perseverare conatur, (Ethices, Pars III., Prop. VI.,) expresses also the ultimate of modern investigation. A recent critic considers it is a fallacy because the conatus “surreptitiously implies a sense of effort or struggle for existence,” whereas the logical concept of a res does not involve effort (S. N. Hodgson, The Theory of Practice, vol. I. pp. 134-6, London, 1870.) The answer is that identity implies continuance. In organic life we have the fact of nutrition, a function whose duty is to supply waste, and hence offer direct opposition to perturbing forces.