ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Spinoza’s philosophy of action can shed light on two guiding and unresolved questions that dominate recent philosophy of action, as represented by the works of Donald Davidson, G.E.M. Anscombe, and their followers: how are actions to be differentiated from non-actions, and how are actions to be differentiated from other actions. Spinoza cuts a path through the philosophy of action by denying a presupposition of both questions viz. that there are differentiated actions. The result is a movement toward a Parmenidean conception of action in Spinoza as all-pervasive and as undifferentiated. The chapter closes with methodological remarks on how to address apparently conflicting passages in historical texts in philosophy.
