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The line of argument leading to Baruch Spinoza's proposition that "extension is an attribute of God," or in other words "God is extended," can be explained by first beginning with Spinoza's definition of substance. Spinoza's definition of substance leads to a theory of substance entailing that God, equivalent to everything else, is the only substance to exist. The definition of substance prior to the theory's propositions consists of substance being a response to the Aristotelian and Descarestian definition of substance. For Aristotle, substance signified independent and primary existence for which Descartes contributed to by asserting that God, the only entity independent of everything else, created substance as entities outside of himself (Spinoza, 23). Spinoza challenges these definitions by defining God simply as a substance without making the proposition that substance is the primary building component of everything and that it is created by God as an external entity.

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