" {41a} So also to Schuller, "I call that thing
free which exists and acts solely from the necessity of its own nature:
I call that thing coerced which is determined to exist and to act in a
certain and determinate manner by another." {41b} With regard to this
definition it might be objected that the necessity does not lie solely
in the person who wills but is also in the object. The triangle as well
as the nature of man contains the necessity. What Spinoza means is that
the free man by the necessity of his nature is bound to assert the truth
of what follows from the definition of a triangle and that the stronger
he feels the necessity the more free he is. Hence it follows that the
wider the range of the intellect and the more imperative the necessity
which binds it, the larger is its freedom.
In genuine freedom Spinoza rejoices. "The doctrine is of service in so
far as it teaches us that we do everything by the will of God alone, and
that we are partakers of the divine nature in proportion as our actions
become more and more perfect and we more and more understand God.
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