Q.E.D.
Prop. [XXIX] No individual thing, which is entirely different
from our own nature, can help or check our power
of activity, and absolutely nothing can do us
good or harm, unless it has something in common
with our nature.
Proof.- (29:1) The power of every individual thing, and consequently the
power of man, whereby he exists and operates, can only be determined by
an individual thing (I:[xxviii] ), whose nature (II:[vi] ) must be
understood through the same nature as that, through which human nature
is conceived. (2) Therefore our power of activity, however it be
conceived, can be determined and consequently helped or hindered by
the power of any other individual thing, which has something in common
with us, but not by the power of anything, of which the nature is entirely
different from our own; and since we call good or evil that which is the
cause of pleasure or pain ([viii] ), that is (III:[xi] Note), which
increases or diminishes, helps or hinders, our power of activity;
therefore, that which is entirely, different from our nature can neither
be to us good nor bad. Q.E.D.
Prop. [XXX] A thing cannot be bad for us through the quality
which it has in common with our nature, but it is
bad for us in so far as it is contrary to our nature.
Proof.- (30:1) We call a thing bad when it is the cause of pain ([viii] ),
that is (by the Def.
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