ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop an unorthodox interpretation of Baruch Spinoza doctrine of infinite attributes. It establishes a general distinction between his systematic and nonsystematic senses, or uses, of philosophic terms, offering specific examples of such senses. Most major philosophers make a distinction, sometimes explicitly, more often implicitly, between the senses of principal terms as they enter into the philosopher’s system of concepts and categories and the senses of the same terms which are not directly related to the system. In general Spinoza’s systematic senses correspond to what the understanding clearly grasps, and his nonsystematic senses to what imaginatio obscurely senses or pictures. Spinoza causes a certain amount of confusion by his occasional capitalization of natura, used in this nonsystematic sense, in expressions referring to God.
