Sub specie aeternitatis

The phrase “sub specie aeternitatis” has been coined by Spinoza, but the idea can be traced back to Plato, who writes in the Republic that “the contemplation of all time and all being” (kai theōria pantos men chronou pasēs de ousias) can help philosophers to lose their fear of death (Plato 1991, p. 165; 486a). Our present understanding of this perspective—which I will henceforth denote as SSA—has been largely shaped by Thomas Nagel’s discussion of a topic closely related to the problem of death: the meaning of life. Nagel characterizes SSA as a standpoint that allows us to see ourselves “from outside”, eventually gaining enough distance to attain “an external view of the universe, which abstracts from our own position in it” (Nagel 1986, p. 214). This is a metaphorical description, to be sure, since we cannot literally imagine the whole universe without shrinking it to human measures and ignoring too many of its details. Thus, it may be better to consider SSA as a product of thinking based on physical science.