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 SPINOZA

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SPINOZA

mathematician, and had the reputation of possessing a fine pohtical sense. Jan de Witt and van Beuningen held him in high regard. Huygens interested him- self in Spinoza's lenses. Great expectations were ex- pressed of his philosophy by Heinrich Oldenburg of Bremen, who had visited Spinoza at Rijnsburg and now, in connexion with Robert Boyle, was active in London as the secretary of the Royal Society, and by the learned Ludwig INIeyer. While hving at Voor- burg Spinoza worked hard on a lengthy treatise to which he later gave the title of "Tractatus theologico- politicus". He drew largely for this work from the Arabian and Jewish philosophy of religion and from the old rabbinical exegesis. But his main sources were early, little-known Jewish heretics and obscure Christian writers of his own time, especially Peyrere's "Systema theologicum ex Praeadamitarum hypo- thesi" (1655). Spinoza's political views were largely inspired by Jan de Witt and his friends; the same opinions are to be found in the writings of other Dutch political writers of the same period, e. g. van Hove. Spinoza, however, in publishing his treatise, had special aims in view. It was intended to estab- lish and enlarge the ecclesiastical and political princi- ples of Jan de Witt and at the same time to lead the way to the publication of his own philosophy. Ac- cording to Spinoza the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament are not without error and are not inspired in the strict sense. They do not teach us with cer- tainty as to the nature of God and His characteristics, but only concerning obedience to God, piety, and love. Consequently the text of the Bible can never come into conflict with philosophy and civil law. But, ac- cording to Spinoza, the limitations of philosophy and law are also clearly defined. As it is only in the State that justice and law, injustice and transgression are conceivable, the individual, in order to be able to live according to reason, must surrender his rights to the community. Then, too, he must obey the govern- ment in everything, even against his reason and con- viction, unless a command contradicts universal feel- ing, as the murder of parents. Freedom of thinking and speaking, however, cannot be forbidden by the State; if it has the power to do this, the right, indeed, cannot be denied it, but the prohibition would be dis- advantageous to it, because its own existence would be endangered by such tyranny. No man can ever act according to his convictions, if a law of the State stands in the way. Thus Spinoza uphokls only a partial freedom of conscience. On the other h;uid the government has the right to supervise the external practice of religion. It is easy to understand that the Church councils and synods of Holland took energetic measures against this work, which appe:u-ed anony- mously in 1670. Up to 1676 at least thirty-seven de- cisions or edicts against the work had appeared.

From 1670 Spinoza Uved at The Hague, at first in the Verkade, then not far from this spot in the Pavil- jocnsgracht, near the monument erected in 1880. Both houses are still in existence, but the latter, in which Si^inoza died, has lately been completely re- built. The philosopher laboured with zeal on his great work; in order to be independent and undis- turbed in elaborating his system of philosophy he de- clined a call to a professonship at Heidelberg. Ills plan to publish his system of ethics in 1675 failed, owing to the opposition of his enemies. Originally Spinoza seems to have had the intention to found a kind of philosophical world-religion. He believe<l that the basic ideas of his view of the world were to be found among the old Hebrews, in Christ, and in St. Paul. In his opinion this philosophy,' without the Holy Scriptures, sufficed for the truly wise. In order to understand his concei)tion of the original Chris- tianity it must l)(^ remembered that his ai'i|uaiiitancc from the beginning had been among latitudiiiarian Christians, who emphasized the moral life, not dogma,

that, with many of his Christian friends, he regarded the Antitrinitarians as the most genuine Christians, that he found traces of his philosophy in the writings of Christian mystics, and finally that among the first wTitings which had introduced him to Christianity had been Hobbes's books "Decive"and "Leviathan". Towards the end of his life Spinoza had bitter dis- appointments, which, however, seldom disturbed his stoical composure. He hved tranquilly at The Hague in the midst of his work, his correspondence, and his friends. He began an exceedingly interesting political treatise in which he did not change his earUer views but rather carried them further. He also wrote a short treatise on the rainbow, and a Hebrew gram- mar, and, as it seems, translated the Pentateuch. He was a victim to the disease from which his family suffered, consumption, and this was aggravated by his work in grinding lenses. He died peacefully, in the presence of a physician who was a friend. Even the other people in the house did not know he was dying. The little he left was, as it were, a mirror of his life. Spinoza was a very frugal and unselfish man. He declined all money and pensions that he did not abso- lutely require. His way of hving could not be sim- pler; it was only for books that he spent relatively large sums. The virtues which he most highly prized and consistently practised were control of the feeUngs, equability of spirit, love of country, loyalty and in- dustry, moderation and love of the truth. In so- ciety he was animated and witty; he enjoyed being alone, and yet was kindly dispo.sed towards his fellow men. Union with God, as he conceived of the Deity, i. e. as a thinking and infinite, necessarily existing, immanent cause of all existence, and love for this Being were to him the highest of all things. He was immovably convinced that his was the true phi- losophy, could scarcely understand any view that deviated from his own, was hard and unjust in his judgments of other thinkers, was not easily approached with objections, and was incapable of appreciating with historical objectivity other views of the world.

In 1677 his literary remains were published under the title "B. D. S. Opera posthuma". In this publi- cation were included his system of ethics, the unfin- ished pohtical tractate, the treatise "De cmendatione intellectus", letters to and from him, and lastly his compendium of Hebrew grammar. The Dutch translation of the same year has great critical value. The tractate on the rainbow was first published anonymously in Dutch at The Hague in 1687. The problems added for the calculus of probabilities are not by Spinoza. The philosopher seems to have destroyed his translation of the Pentateuch; the Spanish apology which he drew up when expelled from the synagogue has not, so far, been found.

It is impossible to describe in a short article the Spinozistic system as a whole. F'or it is just the rigidly unified, minute construction of that system and the labyrinth of its thought processes that are of impor- tance for the history of philosophy as an original creation. On the other hand, the elements, bases, and individual results are neither new nor original. Spinoza's view of the world is so constructed that the final results can be reached with equal logic from its epistemological and psychological as.svnnptions, and from its ethical and metaphysical axioms. The view of Spinozism held by the present writer, which frequently varies from the views formerly held, can merely be indicated in what follows.

According to S[)in(iza there are no universal notions. Only that is thinkable which actually exists or will exist at .some time. Further, only the necessary is thinkable. Existence and necessity, however, cannot be deduced from the nature of finite things; we nuist therefore conceive of a Being (God) necessarily existing and necessarily acting, from which all else follows of necessity. This Being is not the cause but