Who Is?:
Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Jewish descent, to date one of the most distinguished in the history of his land, and a prominent figure in early modern philosophy. He is most famous for having defended two doctrines. The first is a form of monism in metaphysics. The second is the rebuttal of any objective basis for good and evil in ethics.
Life:
Spinoza was born in 1632 in Amsterdam. His family however was of Sephardic Jewish descent, original of Portugal or Spain. Spinoza received a Jewish education. But in 1656 he was excommunicated from his religious community. Although the reasons for such a decision were not explicitly stated, Spinoza had probably already developed the seeds of his future philosophy. This will include the rejection of the immortality of the soul and the denial of God’s benevolence.
In 1661 he moved out of Amsterdam and spent the last sixteen years of his live in smaller Dutch municipalities – Rijnsburg, Voorburg, and The Hague respectively. As most of the great early modern philosophers, such as Descartes and Leibniz, Spinoza was not an academic. For most of his life he earned a living by grinding lenses, a relatively profitable business, which allowed him free time to devote to his scholarly research.
In 1661 he moved out of Amsterdam and spent the last sixteen years of his live in smaller Dutch municipalities – Rijnsburg, Voorburg, and The Hague respectively. As most of the great early modern philosophers, such as Descartes and Leibniz, Spinoza was not an academic. For most of his life he earned a living by grinding lenses, a relatively profitable business, which allowed him free time to devote to his scholarly research.
Writings:
Spinoza did not publish much during his lifetime. The most famous of his works, the Ethics, was published immediately after his death in 1677. Just seven years before the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (Political-Theological Treatise) was published anonymously in Hamburg. To those we should add a treatise on the principles of Cartesian philosophy – the Principia philosophiae cartesianae (1663), which contained already most of the ideas that would render Spinoza one of the most radical and original thinkers of Western philosophy.
It is worth mentioning that Spinoza composed also a Hebrew grammar (1677). He is indeed a key figure in the history of biblical interpretation. He contributed to inaugurate a tradition that will flourish during the enlightenment.
It is worth mentioning that Spinoza composed also a Hebrew grammar (1677). He is indeed a key figure in the history of biblical interpretation. He contributed to inaugurate a tradition that will flourish during the enlightenment.
Monism:
Spinoza was a metaphysical monist. This means that he defended the view that there is only one entity. According to him, that entity is God. Everything that exists is in God, is a way in which God is. More technically speaking, Spinoza called the ways in which God may be attributes or modifications of God. Let’s see more closely what they are.
Substance, Attributes, and Modes:
Spinoza’s metaphysics is organized according to a three-tier structure. At the top there is God, the only substance, that is the only being which can be said to exist independently of the existence of anything else. God is infinite: it has not temporal of spatial boundaries, so no beginning or end, and it never changes.
At the second level we find attributes. God has an infinity of attributes. But only two of them are known to humans: extension in space and time, that it matter; and thought. The two attributes are heterogeneous: as in Cartesian philosophy, matter and thinking do not overlap. But, for Spinoza, there is no causal interaction between matter and thought, only a coordination that proceeds from God.
Each of the attributes, then, has infinity of modes. Modes are the ways in which matter or thought can be. So, for example, if I am thinking about the cookie I am eating, for Spinoza, there are two modes of two attributes of God involved. The modes are: (i) my thinking about my eating the cookie, which is a mode of thought; (ii) my body’s crunching, chewing, and swallowing the cookie, which is a mode of matter. There is no causal connection between my thought and my body; the apparent coordination is due to God’s intrinsic organization: my thinking and my body are modes of attributes of God, which are organized so to appear synchronized to our thought.
Doubtless, Spinoza’s disconnection between mind and body brings Cartesian philosophy to an extreme. The tension. However, was already there within the Cartesian system; and we find it still in most contemporary philosophy.
Spinoza’s position revived monism in a form which is reminiscent of the very beginning of Western philosophy: Parmenides of Elea had indeed defended a version of monism which parallels Spinoza’s under several respects.
At the second level we find attributes. God has an infinity of attributes. But only two of them are known to humans: extension in space and time, that it matter; and thought. The two attributes are heterogeneous: as in Cartesian philosophy, matter and thinking do not overlap. But, for Spinoza, there is no causal interaction between matter and thought, only a coordination that proceeds from God.
Each of the attributes, then, has infinity of modes. Modes are the ways in which matter or thought can be. So, for example, if I am thinking about the cookie I am eating, for Spinoza, there are two modes of two attributes of God involved. The modes are: (i) my thinking about my eating the cookie, which is a mode of thought; (ii) my body’s crunching, chewing, and swallowing the cookie, which is a mode of matter. There is no causal connection between my thought and my body; the apparent coordination is due to God’s intrinsic organization: my thinking and my body are modes of attributes of God, which are organized so to appear synchronized to our thought.
Doubtless, Spinoza’s disconnection between mind and body brings Cartesian philosophy to an extreme. The tension. However, was already there within the Cartesian system; and we find it still in most contemporary philosophy.
Spinoza’s position revived monism in a form which is reminiscent of the very beginning of Western philosophy: Parmenides of Elea had indeed defended a version of monism which parallels Spinoza’s under several respects.
Beyond Good and Evil:
Spinoza’s Ethics is most famous for having rejected God’s benevolence and, hence, providence. According to Spinoza, "good" and "evil" were created by humans to describe those phenomena that pleased them as opposed to those that were unpleasant. With time, the application of the terms has been refined; nonetheless, there is no fact of the matter as to what is good or evil. Nature is as it is, neither good nor evil.
Further Online Readings and Sources:
"Spinoza" at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
"Spinoza" at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A useful list of sources dedicated to Spinoza, including some online texts.
Spinoza’s main texts at the Early Modern Philosophy online text series, curated by Jonathan Bennett .
"Spinoza" at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A useful list of sources dedicated to Spinoza, including some online texts.
Spinoza’s main texts at the Early Modern Philosophy online text series, curated by Jonathan Bennett .
