Spinoza
Name: Baruch Spinoza
Achievements: Philosophy
Born: November 24, 1632; Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died: February 21, 1677; The Hague, Netherlands (Aged 45)
Field & Discipline: Philosophy
Language: Spanish; Hebrew; Portuguese; Dutch; Latin (wrote)
Father: Michael Spinoza
Mother: Unknown
Siblings: Step-sister
Spouse: None
Children: None
Education: Unknown
Major Work:
"Ethica" (1677)
Life & Times:
While still a student, Spinoza announced that the author of the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) knew no more about physics or theology than Spinoza and his friends.
In the fourteenth century, the rabbi [work related to] Crescas* had challenged the traditional proofs of biblical interpretation in a similar fashion, but this precedent did not save Spinoza from excommunication from the synagogue by the elders. He was also banished from Amsterdam for a brief period by the civil authorities.
On his return, he stayed with a friend who had opened a humanist school in Amsterdam. In addition to helping with the teaching, Spinoza learned Greek and discovered the philosophy of [influenced by] Descartes*. He also learned how to make lenses and supplemented his teaching income by grinding and polishing lenses for telescopes, microscopes and eyeglasses.
A circle formed around Spinoza to debate religious and philosophical questions, and in 1660, Spinoza went to a small village on the Rhine named Rijnsburg, where he was visited by scholars interested in new philosophical and scientific ideas. One such visitor was Royal Society Secretary [visited by] Oldenburg* with whom he started up a long correspondence.
During the next two years in Rijnsburg, Spinoza wrote "Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being" and "Treatise on the Correction of the Understanding". He also embarked on a version of Descartes's "Principia Philosophiae," published in 1663. This was the only work Spinoza ever published under his own name and he added an introduction stating that he did not agree with the views expressed in the book by Descartes.
It was the metaphysical aspect of Descartes to which Spinoza was most opposed, especially Descartes's views on the transcendence of God, the dualism of mind and body, and the idea that both God and human beings possessed free will.
In 1663, Spinoza moved to Voorburg, near the Hague where he met [met] Christiaan Huyghens* who was making advances in optic science. In the next eighteen months Spinoza wrote the first three books of his masterpiece, "Ethica". When he came to writing his own philosophy, Spinoza chose the ‘geometrical,’ (deductive) method to present his position. He claimed that by defining each of his premises and then producing a series of theorems deriving from them, his views would be indisputable. This claim was disputed by [disputed by] Leibniz*, the philosopher and mathematician.
In 1670 Spinoza's "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" was published anonymously in Amsterdam. It amounted to a plea for intellectual liberty as Spinoza attempted to demonstrate that such liberty did not challenge either the stability of the civil order or the piety of the writer. In fact, he argued the opposite: that to restrict such liberty would be to induce civil unrest and threaten religion.
He was one of the first to argue for the application of historical methods in interpreting biblical texts, and he said that the way people thought was affected by the events and customs of their time. Following on from this he declared that miracles are natural phenomena which can be explained by science and that the miraculous occurrences reported in the Bible had been misinterpreted and used as moral propaganda.
His controversial and daring views were good for sales and five editions were printed in as many years. In 1670 Spinoza moved to the Hague. He completed another two volumes of "Ethica."
He began writing a Hebrew grammar which he did not complete and also began a political treatise. He was protected by a circle of humanist friends and in 1676 met Leibniz. Spinoza suffered from tuberculosis, exacerbated by inhaling dust from grinding lenses, and his health was declining.
After his death his friends managed to get some of his manuscripts published by sending them to Amsterdam.
Extra Connections: He was influenced by medieval Jewish philosophers [influenced by] ben Gershom*, Maimonides*, and [influenced by] de Leon*.
He influenced the French philosopher [influenced] Taine*, the novelist [influenced] Flaubert*, French philosopher [influenced] Condillac*, German Romantic thinkers [influenced] Herder* and [influenced] Schelling*, and the Zionist [influenced] Moses Hess*.
He knew English scientist [knew] Boyle*.
In the nineteenth century the English writer [translated by] George Eliot* translated his "Ethica".
Assessment: Spinoza was a leading Rationalist philosopher in the seventeenth century who attempted to reconcile rationalism with a belief in God.
Oneliner: Baruch Spinoza, major philosopher
Bibliography:
- Scruton, Roger, Spinoza, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986.