Spinoza's 'Ethics'

A Reader's Guide

J. Thomas Cook

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781441196729
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

The Ethics is one of the undisputed masterworks of early modern philosophy. In this single volume Spinoza offers the reader an unorthodox account of God, a novel version of the mind-body relation, a systematic theory of the emotions and a detailed prescription for human virtue and blessedness. Too controversial to be published during his lifetime, it was surreptitiously printed by Spinoza's friends after his death. Nowadays the Ethics is studied in university classes as an exemplary work of early modern rationalism.

In Spinoza's 'Ethics': A Reader's Guide, J. Thomas Cook explains the philosophical background against which the book was written and the key themes inherent in the text.The book then guides the reader to a clear understanding of the text as a whole, before exploring the reception and influence of this classic philosophical work. This is the ideal companion to study of this most influential and challenging of texts.

CHAPTER 1

SPINOZA AND THE ETHICS: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

During his lifetime Spinoza was best known for his radical ideas about religion and politics. As a young man of twenty-four he was formally cursed and excommunicated by the Jewish community of Amsterdam because the elders of the synagogue found his views too unorthodox to be tolerated. Fourteen years later, in 1670, he tried to influence the course of events in Dutch politics by publishing a book supporting freedom of thought and freedom of the press. In defending his position he provided an analysis that called into question traditional views of the Bible, institutional religion and the basis of political authority. Even in liberal Holland, such a work could not be published openly, so it appeared anonymously with a title page that falsely claimed that it was printed in Hamburg, Germany. This work, with the imposing title Theological-Political Treatise, failed to influence favourably the politics of the day, and was soon widely banned by the authorities. But in spite of the prohibition it was read by intellectuals all over Europe and, when he was eventually identified as the author, Spinoza earned respect as a learned scholar of Biblical texts. Unfortunately he also gained a reputation as a dangerous freethinker and even an atheist.

It was in this atmosphere of notoriety and suspicion that Spinoza finished writing his most important work, the Ethics. He had been developing the ideas for this book for many years and had spent the better part of a decade putting the ideas into the clearest and most compelling form he could. He was eager to share his findings and in 1675 actually began negotiations with the publisher. But it became increasingly clear that it would be dangerous for publication to proceed, even anonymously, so he stopped the process and decided to wait for a more auspicious time. He did not live to see that time, though, for within two years Spinoza died at the age of forty-four. The manuscript of the Ethics was left in the drawer of his bedside table at his death. It appeared in print the following year in the ‘Posthumous Works of B.D.S.’, secretly edited and published by his friends. It too was widely banned by the authorities. But it was also widely read.

His earlier work had focused chiefly on religion and political theory, but in the Ethics Spinoza broadens the scope of his investigations to address virtually all of the most fundamental issues in philosophy. In one volume he tackles central questions of metaphysics, epistemology, physics, philosophy of mind, psychology and ethics. These questions are not just addressed one after the other, each an isolated puzzle. On the contrary, Spinoza provides a systematic account in which each field of inquiry has its proper place, and each is related to the other fields in a remarkably integrated way.

Though it was suppressed and maligned when it first appeared, Spinoza’s Ethics is now universally recognized as one of the undisputed masterworks of early modern philosophy. But like many great works, the Ethics is not easily accessible for the first-time reader. Spinoza chose to cast his philosophy into geometrical form, beginning with definitions, axioms, propositions and demonstrations. There are good reasons for his choice of this manner of writing (reasons which will be considered in Chapter 3), but the geometrical form does not engage the reader personally in the way that a more conversational or a more narrative style of writing might. The geometrical structure spotlights the philosophical ideas and their logical connections while keeping the author out of sight. The geometrical order of exposition does not give the author a chance to introduce himself or to explain why he is engaged in this philosophical project.

Spinoza preferred to maintain his anonymity, but it is helpful for the modern reader to know something of the author’s life and of the circumstances in which he wrote. For one thing, Spinoza’s life tells us where his philosophical views lead when put into practice - for he lived his life very much in accordance with the philosophical and moral principles that are found in the Ethics. One of the things that most fascinated and puzzled many of his contemporaries was that a man who espoused ideas that seemed so sacrilegious could have lived such a morally exemplary life. Even today the simplicity and calm of his life speak to many of his admirers as eloquently as do his written works. This calm is all the more noteworthy when we recall that he was the target of rejection, hostility and calumny during his life.

SPINOZA’S LIFE

Spinoza was born in 1632 in the bustling port city of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The city was at the peak of its power and prosperity at the time, in the midst of what is now referred to as its ‘Golden Age’. Commerce was king, and ships arrived every day from all over the world, bringing exotic wares and great wealth to the city. As merchants made their fortunes they built the beautiful patrician houses that still grace the canals of the old city. Amsterdam was home to artists such as Rembrandt (a neighbour of Spinoza’s) as well as important scientists such as Anton van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the microscope.

Perhaps in part because of its role as a centre of international trade, Amsterdam was a progressive and tolerant city - at least by the standards of the time. The city’s tolerance of religious diversity is what led Spinoza’s forebears to settle there when they were forced to leave their native Portugal. The Spinozas were Jewish, and the Catholic Inquisition offered the Jews in Spain and Portugal only three choices - conversion to Christianity, death or exile. Spinoza’s forebears chose exile, sailed to Amsterdam and settled in the city’s sizable Jewish Quarter.

Michael and Hana Deborah deSpinoza chose the name ‘Baruch’ for their eldest son - a Hebrew name meaning ‘blessed’. He was educated in the Talmud Torah School, and he might have thought about becoming a rabbi. But as he deepened his study of the Hebrew scriptures and commentaries he found that he agreed less and less with his teachers’ orthodox interpretation. He learned about textual interpretation and logic from his study of these works, but ultimately they did not satisfy him.

In his later teenage years (or perhaps his early twenties) his intellectual horizons broadened and he developed a curiosity about the writings of Christian and secular thinkers. In order to read these, though, he had to learn Latin, for almost all such works were written in that language at the time. He found excellent Latintraining in the home-school of a physician named Francis van den Enden, and along with the language he began to learn of the larger world of philosophical and scientific ideas.

When Spinoza was twenty years old, his father died. For a while he and his brother Gabriel ran a fruit and vegetable business, but it seems that Spinoza’s interests were focused more on his studies than on business. The more he learned, the more his theological and religious views diverged from those of the rabbis and elders. In thought as well as in action Spinoza drifted away from the community, becoming less orthodox in his thinking and less religiously observant in his daily life.

We do not know exactly what led to the final break in 1656. At some point the views that he espoused and the increasingly secular life that he led were judged intolerably unorthodox by the elders. He was offered the opportunity to change his ways and recant his heresies, but he refused to compromise. So, as his ancestors had been driven into exile for religious reasons, Spinoza was exiled from the Jewish community because he refused to conform to the expectations of the orthodox. The ban with which he was formally excommunicated reads (in part) as follows:

By decree of the angels and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza … Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against this man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him … [N]o one should communicate with him, neither in writing, nor accord him any favor, nor stay with him under the same roof, nor come within four cubits of him, nor shall he read any treatise composed or written by him.¹

With these frightful words Spinoza was irrevocably cut off from the community where he had grown up, studied, worked and worshipped.

After his excommunication at the age of twenty-four Spinoza changed his first name, Baruch, to its Latin equivalent, Benedictus. He lived a quiet life, talking sometimes with a group of Protestant Christians, unorthodox like himself. He exchanged letters with various important businessmen, philosophers and scientists who expressed an interest in his ideas. In the twenty years between his excommunication and his death he moved five times to various cities in the Netherlands, always renting a room in the house of a local citizen. He lived very frugally, supporting himself in modest fashion by grinding lenses. A friend, Simon de Vries, offered to give him two thousand florins (about five hundred pounds Sterling) to make his life easier. But Spinoza asked him to make the gift smaller, explaining that such a large sum would surely distract him from his work and his studies. Rather surprisingly, he was even offered a prestigious and well-paid professorship at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He politely declined the post, expressing concern about the distractions and political pressures that might accompany such a position.

Spinoza worked away at his lenses and his philosophy in the cramped quarters that were his home. From 1665 to 1670 he set aside the Ethics to focus on the Theological-Political Treatise. When this was published (as we saw, anonymously and with great controversy) he returned to the main task at hand and worked on the Ethics until the end. He was not a recluse in his last years, for a number of learned people valued his insights and came to spend an afternoon in conversation. But he spent most of his time in one room, and the glass dust, that he must have breathed constantly, weakened his lungs. He died quietly of tuberculosis one Sunday afternoon in 1677 in his last home city, The Hague.

THE ETHICS AND THE CONTROVERSY

Spinoza had shared some of the content of his Ethics with a number of trusted friends over the years. In this way the authorities had come to hear of the fact that that ‘renegade Jew’ who wrote the pernicious Treatise had composed a book in which he intended to present his philosophy in a more comprehensive and systematic way. Upon Spinoza’s death, efforts were made to locate the manuscript in order to destroy it or at least to prevent its publication. From as far away as Rome came expressions of concern about the dangerous consequences of allowing the book to see the light of day.²

Fortunately Spinoza’s friends were able to elude the authorities while they prepared for the printing. The book appeared in January of 1678, and the judgement of the churches and the government was swift and harsh. On the 4 February, within weeks of the first copies appearing, the Reformed Consistory of Leiden pronounced it, ‘A book which, perhaps since the beginning of the world until the present day … surpasses all others in godlessness and endeavours to do away with all religion and set impiety on the throne’. By June the work was officially banned in all of Holland and in most of the rest of the Netherlands.

In order to understand the establishment’s fear and opposition to Spinoza’s philosophy, it must be remembered that at the time he was writing a gradual but profound intellectual revolution was under way in Western Europe. The outcome was uncertain and the details were unclear, but the general direction of change was pretty obvious. Let us consider some of the most important factors that were driving that revolution.

1. The Renaissance had reawakened awareness of classical culture with its focus on human society and the natural world. And it was not hard to notice that the great authors of the classical age had written brilliantly and insightfully about human life and about the cosmos without benefit of Biblical wisdom or Christian theology.

2. The Reformation had undermined the unity of western Christianity and the unanimity of believers regarding sacraments, salvation and scriptural interpretation. Endless doctrinal controversies and bloody religious wars made it more difficult for thinking people to be quite as confident of the unquestionable truth and Tightness of their own beliefs and allegiances.

3. The ‘new sciences’ of astronomy, optics, and mechanics were questioning the theoretical underpinnings of the Aristotelian-Christian synthesis that had held sway for centuries. As the evidence mounted in favour of Copernicus’s view that we are not literally at the centre of the universe, people were led to rethink mankind’s ‘place’ in a more figurative sense. Led by thinkers such as Galileo and Descartes, the new ‘natural philosophy’ suggested that events in nature occur in accordance with mechanical laws that can be formulated in mathematical terms. As this view gained ground it inevitably raised difficult questions - about human free will, about the possibility of miracles, and about the role (if any) of purpose - divine purpose - in explaining things. And it was not long before people began to ask whether the sort of mechanical explanations that the new sciences offered could be applied to human beings and to human society as well.

A process of change was under way that would lead ultimately to the Enlightenment and to the worldview that we associate with modernity. A secular outlook based on reason and science would increasingly challenge traditional religious perspectives in debates about human welfare, ethics and politics. Philosophy would become less and less the ‘handmaiden of theology’ and would instead play an active part in the emergence of the scientific worldview - a worldview that would often be at odds with revealed religion.

In the 1670s this intellectual revolution was still in its earlier stages. Looking back historically though, we can see that the clerics and magistrates were quite right in thinking that Spinoza’s works were dangerous. No other work of the time presents such a systematic and coherent vision of how the world might look to someone who is willing to suspend belief in revealed religion and take very seriously the claims of the newly emerging natural science. In Spinoza’s works we see the most important characteristics of the Enlightenment and of modernity itself in clear relief. The powers that be were not wrong in thinking that these writings represented a threat to them, for in many ways Spinoza represented the future, and the future was not friendly to their conservative interests.

As we examine the main themes of Spinoza’s Ethics in the next chapter it will be clear just how radically his views diverged from the mainstream of his day. As we then go through the text itself in more detail we will see how these views fit together in a remarkably integrated system. Though written more than three centuries ago these ideas still have the power to challenge and engage us today.

NOTES

1. A more complete text can be found in Steven Nadler, Spinoza: A Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 120.

2. For an excellent discussion of the controversy surrounding the publication of the Ethics, see Jonathan Israel’s, Radical Enlightenment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. The quoted passage from the Leiden Consistory is found in Israel’s work (p. 291).

CHAPTER 2

MAIN THEMES AND INFLUENCES

In the Ethics Spinoza provides an account of reality as a whole and an explanation of how human beings fit into that larger reality. The details of his argument, presented in geometrical form and couched in metaphysical language, can be difficult to follow. (We will try in Chapter 3 to clear a path through that thicket.) But the main ideas that constitute the broad contours of his philosophy are not really difficult at all. On the contrary, these ideas are clear, and they fit together to form a consistent and (in many ways) appealing world-view. If we can get clear on the big picture, the details will be much more accessible.

It is at the level of the big ideas, too, that we can most easily note the influence of earlier thinkers on Spinoza. The geometrical form of writing obscures the extent to which Spinoza is addressing issues that had been raised by previous philosophers and were topics of active controversy in his day. Spinoza almost never mentions other philosophers in the Ethics, but the knowledgeable reader can see signs of the ancient Stoics in Spinoza’s ethical doctrines and traces of Hobbes in his political theory. The biblical critique in the Theological-Political Treatise owes much to Maimonides and other Jewish scholars. In his letters Spinoza readily grants the influence that the ancient atomists (Democritus and Lucretius) had on his thinking. Like all other philosophers, Spinoza was implicitly in conversation with the tradition - he was inspired and provoked by the questions and claims of a number of earlier writers.

The single thinker whose ideas most directly influenced Spinoza was the French philosopher Rene Descartes. A creative mathematician and a founder of modern philosophy, Descartes developed a system that he hoped would provide a grounding for the new mathematically based physical sciences while reconciling those new sciences with the most important tenets of Christianity. His philosophy offered an alternative to the Aristotelian/Scholastic system that had dominated Western thought for centuries. He presented his new ideas in a series of writings in the 1630s and 1640s, and though he died in 1650 his ideas grew steadily more influential in the following decades.

It was the 1650s when Spinoza, as a young adult, learned Latin in the school of Francis van den Enden and began to read the works of Christian and secular philosophers. Descartes’ works, which were setting the intellectual agenda for progressive thinkers all over Europe, influenced the educational agenda for the young Spinoza as well. Along with Latin, Spinoza learned the basics of Descartes’ philosophy. He became such an expert that for a while he had private students of his own who came to him specifically to study the philosophy of Descartes. In fact, Spinoza recast one of Descartes’ works (The Principles of Philosophy) into geometrical form in order to aid one of his students in learning the ideas. Some friends later persuaded Spinoza to publish this teaching-aid - it was the only work that Spinoza was able to publish openly during his lifetime.

Descartes’ ideas influenced Spinoza’s Ethics profoundly, but this influence does not show up as widespread agreement on basic doctrines. On the contrary, Spinoza disagrees with Descartes on some of the most central issues in philosophy. As we consider the main themes of the Ethics we can often see them as responses to and correctives for what Spinoza took to be fundamental errors in the new Cartesian philosophy. We will look at four of the central and mos...