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Quote Copy your excerpt here (without quotes). It must cover one argument and only one. Tip: You can use square brackets […] to truncate the quotation in order to make the reading more fluid and retain only the important passages.	Incidentally, even if we were to agree with Leibniz and the principle of reason, this would only prove the existence of a necessary being. But what proof do we have that this being is God, by which I mean a Spirit, a Subject, a Person (or three)? It could just as easily be Anaximander's "apeiron" (the infinite, the indeterminate), Heraclitus' ever-changing fire (becoming), Parmenides' impersonal Being, Lao-tseu's equally impersonal Tao.... It could be Spinoza's Substance, which is absolutely necessary, the cause of itself and of everything, eternal and infinite, but immanent (its effects are in itself) and devoid, as I said in connection with ontological proof, of all anthropomorphic features: it is without consciousness, without will, without love. Spinoza calls it "God", of course, but it's not a good God: it's only Nature (this is what we call Spinozist pantheism: "Deus sive Natura", God that is Nature), which is not a subject and pursues no goal. What's the point of praying to it, since it doesn't listen to us? How can we obey her, when she asks nothing of us? Why trust her, when she doesn't care about us? And what's left of faith? Leibniz made no mistake. This kind of pantheism is closer to atheism than to religion.
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Quote Copy your excerpt here (without quotes). It must cover one argument and only one. Tip: You can use square brackets […] to truncate the quotation in order to make the reading more fluid and retain only the important passages.
Author(s) Enter here the full name(s) of the author(s) of the quote in the form “First name Last name”. For each author, click on it to validate it. Tip: If an author has already been quoted, just enter the first letters of his name. You will then only have to select it from the drop-down list.
Article title Enter the full title of the article or webpage here. Tip: If this article has already been cited, all you have to do is enter part of its title. You will then only have to select it from the drop-down list.
Book, journal or site title Enter here the title of the book, newspaper, magazine or the name of the site in which the quote is found. Tip: If this work, this journal or this site has already been registered in Wikidebates, then all you have to do is enter part of its title. You will then only have to select it from the drop-down list.
Journal volume If this quote is found in a scientific or academic journal in different volumes, enter here the number of the volume in which the quotation is published.
Journal number If this quote is in a numbered periodical (review, magazine), enter here the number of the periodical in which the quotation is published.
Page(s) If this quote is in a printed book or journal, you can enter the relevant page numbers here. Note: Do not write the word “page” or its abbreviations “p.” or “pg.”.
Location in the book If this quote is in a specific part of a book (chapter, section, book, verse, law article number, etc.), you can specify it here.
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Warning(s) If the quote poses a problem, report it by checking the corresponding box(es): Too short quote: The selected excerpt does not contain any reasoning or example. Select a longer extract or delete the quote. Too long quote: The selected excerpt is too long or mixes up separate arguments. Delete the superfluous passages, if necessary by using the square brackets […], or cut this extract into several quotations each centered on an argument. Incomplete quote reference: Some important fields (author, title, date, …) have not been filled in. By checking this box, you indicate that the references of this citation must be completed.	Too short quote Too long quote Incomplete quote reference

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