Spinoza’s ethics is based on the notion that we share a human nature with others, but it is difficult to understand how Spinoza’s metaphysics accommodates the existence of species essences. This essay explains how it does so. It argues that, for Spinoza, the essences of singular things are in a sense the only real essences. Nevertheless, it contends that Spinoza leaves metaphysical space for a different type of species essence. On this reading, species essences are abstract ideas that represent similarities among particular things. While these species essences are not real in the sense that they do not exist prior to the activity of a finite mind nor independently of singular things, they still possess objective reality.
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