The Philosophy of Benedict de Spinoza
Baruch de Espinoza, as he was called in Portuguese, was born on November 23, 1632 in Amsterdam. His father was a Portuguese merchant and synagogue warden. Spinoza had a traditional Jewish upbringing, attending the Keter Torah yeshiva of the Amsterdam Talmud Torah congregation. His teachers included the less traditional Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel, a Kabbalist scholar. Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, became mainstream Jewish theology in the early-modern era, due to an esoteric Renaissance in the 16th-century. Kabbalists envisioned an impersonal God called Ein Sof, "the infinite", "endless", or "that which has no limits" through which the universe is created and sustained.
In 1653, Spinoza began studying Latin with Frances van den Enden, a notorious free thinker, former Jesuit, and radical democrat who likely introduced Spinoza to scholastic and modern philosophy, including that of Descartes. Spinoza adopted the Latin name Benedictus de Spinoza, began boarding with Van den Enden, and began teaching in his school. From 1660, Spinoza joined the study groups of the Collegiants, an eclectic Christian sect. Many of his friends belonged to dissident Christian groups which met regularly as discussion groups and which typically rejected the authority of established churches as well as traditional dogmas.
Spinoza was excommunicated from the Talmud Torah congregation at age 23 for his heretical beliefs. He rejected the idea that the Jewish Torah was composed by Moses and demonstrated that it was essentially a compiled text with many different authors and diverse origins. Spinoza claimed that the Torah was essentially a political constitution of the ancient state of Israel. In his view, because the state no longer existed, its constitution could no longer be valid. He argued that the Torah was thus suited to a particular time and place; because times and circumstances had changed, the Torah could no longer be regarded as a valid document. Spinoza criticised all organized religion in general and argued that religion and philosophy must be kept separate. He saw the goal of religion as obedience, whereas philosophy aims at understanding rational truth. Spinoza claimed that events described as "miracles" or "supernatural" are merely natural phenomena which we have yet to rationally explain.
Spinoza earnt a living as a lens grinder and gave private philosophy lessons. During his time in Amsterdam, Spinoza wrote his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being, of which two Dutch translations survive, discovered around 1810. Spinoza spent a couple of years in Rijnsburg where he began work on his Principles of Cartesian Philosophy as well as his masterpiece, Ethics. In 1663 he moved to Voorberg, where he published his Theological Political Treatise anonymously in 1670. It was publically condemned in 1673 by the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and formally banned in 1674. Spinoza moved to The Hague where he began his Political Treatise and wrote two scientific essays. In 1676, Spinoza met with Leibniz for a discussion of his principle philosophical work, Ethics. Spinoza's health began to fail that year and he died at age 45. He was buried in a Christian graveyard despite having lived a very secular adult life. The manuscripts he left behind were gathered by his close friends and published in 1677. Spinoza's home was turned into a shrine and he was regarded as saintly.
Spinoza's Ethics argued that God and the infinite Universe are one and the same thing. God isn't a person, and didn't create the world with a purpose in mind. All things, including human thoughts and actions, are inevitable consequences of earlier things, and ultimately follow a causal chain of events. He argued that the mind and the body are one and the same thing, a position described as neutral monism. Spinoza advised people to join with like-minded individuals into societies that promote clear reasoning. Lastly, he explained how to overcome one's emotions and fear of death.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) was heavily influenced by Spinoza, embracing pantheism as well as humanism and various elements of Western esotericism. According to Nietzsche, Goethe had "a kind of almost joyous and trusting fatalism" that has "faith that only in the totality everything redeems itself and appears good and justified." Goethe's philosophic and aphoristic writings spurred the development of many philosophers, including G.W.F. Hegel, Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
In 1781 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, one of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment era, confessed to "Spinozism" on his death bed. This "great secret" shocked his contemporaries. Lessing had written about the notion of Hen kai pan, The One and All, challenging the idea of a “personal, extra-mundane God”. The Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn published a preemptive Morning Hours, or Lectures on the Existence of God, which specifically addressed the fundamental difference between theism and pantheism. He claimed that Lessing was attempting to reconcile pantheism with “the truths of morality and religion”, cut short only by his death.
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi criticised pantheism as materialistic and ultimately atheistic in his Briefe uber die Lehre Spinozas (Letters on the Teachings of Spinoza) in 1785. Pantheism was seen as a threat to society because it conceptually linked Reason itself to the abandonment of religion, but also State authority over religion. This threat was further complicated by Spinoza’s own Theological-Political Treatise which exegetically turned the Bible into just another document of human history.
To Johan Wolfgang von Goethe the pantheistic “intrinsic infinity” holism and Lessing’s Hen kai pan seemed to provide a solution for the problems of modern epistemology. By abandoning the dimension of the extramundane, pantheism placed God within the very rational, immanent processes of Nature itself, that shows itself to scientific inquiry. Jacobi was criticised for misunderstanding Spinoza's concept of God, it was not an empty, property-less thing, but rather a full, positive infinity. Spinoza's pantheism hid within itself the neopagan power of the earth and spirit, and the divinity of humanity. German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling announced “I have become a Spinozist!” and “There is no personal God, and our supreme effort lies in the destruction of our personality, the passage into the absolute sphere of being.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) wrote: "almost all the philosophizers in Germany cast themselves back on to Spinoza".
In 1653, Spinoza began studying Latin with Frances van den Enden, a notorious free thinker, former Jesuit, and radical democrat who likely introduced Spinoza to scholastic and modern philosophy, including that of Descartes. Spinoza adopted the Latin name Benedictus de Spinoza, began boarding with Van den Enden, and began teaching in his school. From 1660, Spinoza joined the study groups of the Collegiants, an eclectic Christian sect. Many of his friends belonged to dissident Christian groups which met regularly as discussion groups and which typically rejected the authority of established churches as well as traditional dogmas.
Spinoza was excommunicated from the Talmud Torah congregation at age 23 for his heretical beliefs. He rejected the idea that the Jewish Torah was composed by Moses and demonstrated that it was essentially a compiled text with many different authors and diverse origins. Spinoza claimed that the Torah was essentially a political constitution of the ancient state of Israel. In his view, because the state no longer existed, its constitution could no longer be valid. He argued that the Torah was thus suited to a particular time and place; because times and circumstances had changed, the Torah could no longer be regarded as a valid document. Spinoza criticised all organized religion in general and argued that religion and philosophy must be kept separate. He saw the goal of religion as obedience, whereas philosophy aims at understanding rational truth. Spinoza claimed that events described as "miracles" or "supernatural" are merely natural phenomena which we have yet to rationally explain.
Spinoza earnt a living as a lens grinder and gave private philosophy lessons. During his time in Amsterdam, Spinoza wrote his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being, of which two Dutch translations survive, discovered around 1810. Spinoza spent a couple of years in Rijnsburg where he began work on his Principles of Cartesian Philosophy as well as his masterpiece, Ethics. In 1663 he moved to Voorberg, where he published his Theological Political Treatise anonymously in 1670. It was publically condemned in 1673 by the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and formally banned in 1674. Spinoza moved to The Hague where he began his Political Treatise and wrote two scientific essays. In 1676, Spinoza met with Leibniz for a discussion of his principle philosophical work, Ethics. Spinoza's health began to fail that year and he died at age 45. He was buried in a Christian graveyard despite having lived a very secular adult life. The manuscripts he left behind were gathered by his close friends and published in 1677. Spinoza's home was turned into a shrine and he was regarded as saintly.
Spinoza's Ethics argued that God and the infinite Universe are one and the same thing. God isn't a person, and didn't create the world with a purpose in mind. All things, including human thoughts and actions, are inevitable consequences of earlier things, and ultimately follow a causal chain of events. He argued that the mind and the body are one and the same thing, a position described as neutral monism. Spinoza advised people to join with like-minded individuals into societies that promote clear reasoning. Lastly, he explained how to overcome one's emotions and fear of death.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) was heavily influenced by Spinoza, embracing pantheism as well as humanism and various elements of Western esotericism. According to Nietzsche, Goethe had "a kind of almost joyous and trusting fatalism" that has "faith that only in the totality everything redeems itself and appears good and justified." Goethe's philosophic and aphoristic writings spurred the development of many philosophers, including G.W.F. Hegel, Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
In 1781 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, one of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment era, confessed to "Spinozism" on his death bed. This "great secret" shocked his contemporaries. Lessing had written about the notion of Hen kai pan, The One and All, challenging the idea of a “personal, extra-mundane God”. The Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn published a preemptive Morning Hours, or Lectures on the Existence of God, which specifically addressed the fundamental difference between theism and pantheism. He claimed that Lessing was attempting to reconcile pantheism with “the truths of morality and religion”, cut short only by his death.
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi criticised pantheism as materialistic and ultimately atheistic in his Briefe uber die Lehre Spinozas (Letters on the Teachings of Spinoza) in 1785. Pantheism was seen as a threat to society because it conceptually linked Reason itself to the abandonment of religion, but also State authority over religion. This threat was further complicated by Spinoza’s own Theological-Political Treatise which exegetically turned the Bible into just another document of human history.
To Johan Wolfgang von Goethe the pantheistic “intrinsic infinity” holism and Lessing’s Hen kai pan seemed to provide a solution for the problems of modern epistemology. By abandoning the dimension of the extramundane, pantheism placed God within the very rational, immanent processes of Nature itself, that shows itself to scientific inquiry. Jacobi was criticised for misunderstanding Spinoza's concept of God, it was not an empty, property-less thing, but rather a full, positive infinity. Spinoza's pantheism hid within itself the neopagan power of the earth and spirit, and the divinity of humanity. German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling announced “I have become a Spinozist!” and “There is no personal God, and our supreme effort lies in the destruction of our personality, the passage into the absolute sphere of being.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) wrote: "almost all the philosophizers in Germany cast themselves back on to Spinoza".