POST #5: Benedict de Spinoza
Topic: Articulate the ethical stance of Spinoza and briefly compare him to another philosopher you have studied in this class.
Benedict de Spinoza
Benedict de Spinoza is a Dutch philosopher and theologian whose controversial pantheistic doctrine advocated an intellectual love of God. Spinoza was originally named Baruch instead of Benedict. However, he was such a rebel that he was excommunicated in 1656 from the Jewish community, in which he belongs to genetically. After his excommunication, Spinoza pursued his nonconformist views as a philosopher in the Christian world, and changed his Hebrew name, Baruch, to its Latin equivalent, Benedict. Now that Spinoza’s work is passed down to present times, there are disagreements among people as to which name should the readers refer to when they study Spinoza’s work. For consistency, Benedict de Spinoza will be simply referred to as Spinoza in this article.
Spinoza’s best known work is “Ethics”. In “Ethics,” Spinoza discusses his view of human ethics and makes the use of the word God constantly. To Spinoza, to understand ethics is to understand God. He explains his ethical theory by discussing the nature of God and humans’ relation to God. “All things…are in God, and all things which come to pass, come to pass solely through the laws of the infinite nature of God, and follow…from the necessity of his essence” (Great Traditions, 105). Comprehending Spinoza’s work, it seems that he equates God with Nature, or Reality, or the Universe. However, either with or without the religious sense, Spinoza’s central ethical theory remains the same. The excerpt below gives a brief summary to Spinoza’s ethical theory:
“In Spinoza’s ethical theory, human effort to acquire knowledge and virtue is accounted for by a striving for self-preservation. In human beings, whose essential nature is rational, this striving is directed toward the perfection of the intellect. The happiness enjoyed by rational individuals accompanies their ‘knowledge of the union existing between the mind and the whole of nature” (Great Traditions, 107).
Spinoza thinks that the way to become an ethical person is to achieve self-preservation, and this self-preservation can be achieved by understanding the relationship between the human mind and the nature. Like many other philosophers, Spinoza thinks the pursuit of material interests lead people to unhappiness. His explanation is that material goals such as riches, fame, and pleasure consume mental energy and time that should be given to meditation. Furthermore, Spinoza feels that most material goals are evil because they are perishable. In Spinoza’s views, goods are those that cannot be destroyed by external causes.
However, in contrast with Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Spinoza finds the doctrine of free will to be particularly pernicious. In his judgment, it is from ignorance of the true causes of our actions that we come to believe that anything we do can possibly be otherwise than it actually is” (Great Traditions, 111). Saint Aquinas emphasizes that individuals have free wills that direct them toward distinctive ends. And because of the power of free will, Aquinas believes that all human ends can be attained. Spinoza, on the other hand, thinks that the will is merely a form of intellect, which can act only to fixed laws that govern all thought.
Overall, Spinoza is a great philosopher whose theories provide interesting views for readers who wish to study philosophy and ethics. His views may concord or conflict with other philosophers; however, the explanation that he offers are very unique, which places him among the top philosophers.
Benedict de Spinoza
Benedict de Spinoza is a Dutch philosopher and theologian whose controversial pantheistic doctrine advocated an intellectual love of God. Spinoza was originally named Baruch instead of Benedict. However, he was such a rebel that he was excommunicated in 1656 from the Jewish community, in which he belongs to genetically. After his excommunication, Spinoza pursued his nonconformist views as a philosopher in the Christian world, and changed his Hebrew name, Baruch, to its Latin equivalent, Benedict. Now that Spinoza’s work is passed down to present times, there are disagreements among people as to which name should the readers refer to when they study Spinoza’s work. For consistency, Benedict de Spinoza will be simply referred to as Spinoza in this article.
Spinoza’s best known work is “Ethics”. In “Ethics,” Spinoza discusses his view of human ethics and makes the use of the word God constantly. To Spinoza, to understand ethics is to understand God. He explains his ethical theory by discussing the nature of God and humans’ relation to God. “All things…are in God, and all things which come to pass, come to pass solely through the laws of the infinite nature of God, and follow…from the necessity of his essence” (Great Traditions, 105). Comprehending Spinoza’s work, it seems that he equates God with Nature, or Reality, or the Universe. However, either with or without the religious sense, Spinoza’s central ethical theory remains the same. The excerpt below gives a brief summary to Spinoza’s ethical theory:
“In Spinoza’s ethical theory, human effort to acquire knowledge and virtue is accounted for by a striving for self-preservation. In human beings, whose essential nature is rational, this striving is directed toward the perfection of the intellect. The happiness enjoyed by rational individuals accompanies their ‘knowledge of the union existing between the mind and the whole of nature” (Great Traditions, 107).
Spinoza thinks that the way to become an ethical person is to achieve self-preservation, and this self-preservation can be achieved by understanding the relationship between the human mind and the nature. Like many other philosophers, Spinoza thinks the pursuit of material interests lead people to unhappiness. His explanation is that material goals such as riches, fame, and pleasure consume mental energy and time that should be given to meditation. Furthermore, Spinoza feels that most material goals are evil because they are perishable. In Spinoza’s views, goods are those that cannot be destroyed by external causes.
However, in contrast with Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Spinoza finds the doctrine of free will to be particularly pernicious. In his judgment, it is from ignorance of the true causes of our actions that we come to believe that anything we do can possibly be otherwise than it actually is” (Great Traditions, 111). Saint Aquinas emphasizes that individuals have free wills that direct them toward distinctive ends. And because of the power of free will, Aquinas believes that all human ends can be attained. Spinoza, on the other hand, thinks that the will is merely a form of intellect, which can act only to fixed laws that govern all thought.
Overall, Spinoza is a great philosopher whose theories provide interesting views for readers who wish to study philosophy and ethics. His views may concord or conflict with other philosophers; however, the explanation that he offers are very unique, which places him among the top philosophers.
posted by Mavis Chao at 10:04 PM
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