Edeline Ompoc Cosicol October 14, 2014
LLB – 301
Legal Philosophy
Baruch Spinoza
“In proportion as we endeavor to live according to the guidance of reason, shall we strive as much as possible to depend less on hope, to liberate ourselves from fear, to rule fortune, and to direct our actions by the sure counsels of reason.”
Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher born on November 1632. Spinoza belonged to the Jewish community of Amsterdam, but he was excommunicated for heresy. Few philosophers in more recent times have been so blasphemed and so persecuted for their ideas as this man. It happened because he criticized the established religion. He believed that Christianity and Judaism were only kept alive by rigid
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His account of civil organization, grounded in psychological realism, stands as an important contribution to the development of constitutionalism and the rule of law.
Spinoza lived in the 1600’s; at a time though liberalism and tolerance were not scarce, was ridden with religious conflict and persecution, and the political authority of the church. However in the present day, as civilization matured and progressed, liberalism as that evoked by rationalism, democracy, free speech, and the subordination of religion to the state has become, arguably, the ideal and even declared as badges of humanity. This paper shall present an exposition on Spinoza’s philosophy, in the light of the modern-day Philippine society.
Subordination of the Church to the
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Reason prescribes that individuals seek whatever aids in the striving for perseverance. But since the goods that are necessary in order to persevere in being are attainable only within the context of social life, reason dictates that we act in ways that are conducive to the stability and harmony of society. Spinoza also believed that democracy was the best form of government since it was the least susceptible to abuses and more representative of the will of the people. He believed what was most important was one’s ability to think freely and to serve the “true religion” that is the intellectual knowledge of God and love for one’s neighbor. So long as people could believe whatever they wanted, and were encouraged to love their neighbor, the “externals” of religion weren’t
Throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Colonial Europe, the sweeping philosophical shift from religious and spiritual pursuits to a greater emphasis on logic and reason foreshadowed remarkable social reformation. In Latin America, the Ibero...
In conclusion, religions not being accepted by other people and unequal distribution of land led to a small decline in a democracy being formed. Although, there were many small and minor improvements, they did not make that period more democratic. In fact, in the Connecticut Gazette, it showed that the people were yearning and in many ways begging for a democracy and wanted independence (Doc L). Even though that happened, the democracy they wanted did not get as far as they hoped for. Yet, it created doors for more to be done later.
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us
A piece of evidence that he gives is that reason cannot be the motive to moral action; if reason can't motivate any action, it ultimately cannot motivate moral
“With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as god gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds; to care for him who shall borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphaned child-to do all which may be achieved and cherished a just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and with all other nations”-Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (Great Documents of America 19).
“The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds”
In contrary to its contemporary antagonist philosophical schools, who advocate the practices of humanness and the rightness and set ideal of the past, the Legalists, in their complete rejection of the traditional ethics, embraces the efficacy of political power and uphold a society of laws and punishments. As the old feudal states decayed and the smoke of endemic warfare suffused, the need for a more rational government that can afford greater centralized power so as to strengthen a state against its rival increased substantially among the Warring States. Such a rising urge necessitated the emergence of the Legalists and further predetermined the Legalists’ inherent nature – realistic, totalitarian and problem-solving – which, with the realization of its significance and duty in the stream of history, finds its hegemonic character as well.
"The conclusion that we have reached thus far indicate that a mind that is in control, one that possesses virtue, cannot be made a slave to inordinate desire by anything equal ...
Spinoza is a modern thinker who explains God as a cause as well. Spinoza is a monist who believes everything is one. Therefore, he believes God is the only substance and existence there is. Spinoza states that "by God I understand a being absolutely infinite, that is, a substance consisting of an inf...
“I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”
Spinoza's philosophy had a practical aim. What he wanted to do was to show the way to perfect peace of mind and joy offered by the life of reason. The Ethics is written as a guidebook to a happy, intellectually flourishing life. Basic in Spinoza's thought is the simple observation that we all want to live well but do not know the way to a happy life. He wanted to give us the instructions which include principles about how to guard us from the power of passions which prevent the mind from understanding. In this paper my aim is to consider how well founded Spinoza's techniques against the passions are. I will do this by concentrating on Jonathan Bennett's criticism of Spinozistic psychotherapy. Bennett finds from the Ethics three central techniques of freeing oneself from passions: (i) reflecting on determinism; (ii) separating and joining; and (iii) turning passions into actions. Bennett believes that all these techniques are in some sense flawed. My contention is that Bennett offers good criticism against 'reflecting on determinism'-technique but that his criticism against 'separating and joining'-technique as well as against 'turning passions into actions'-technique is not well-founded. The paper devotes most space to the 'turning passions into actions'-technique. However, before considering Bennett's view of Spinoza's psychotherapy, I will give an overview of Spinoza's theory of activity and passivity.
...importance of virtue here is that, virtues are needed for living well; But in order to obtain
In the beginning of the course of unraveling 17th and 18th century profound philosophers we became acquainted with Descartes dualism, by analyzing that extension according to Descartes are two of God’s distinct features in which we ought to perceive. Not only did Spinoza toss the conception that God actively alters the earth through Descartes proclaimed “natural laws”, but unlike Descartes he believed God to be the only definite substance. For Spinoza God and God’s creation weren’t two diverse, distinctive substances instead only god or as he phrased nature is the sole true substance. This paper will entail why he takes a monist stance and rejects traditional religious views through the building blocks of
192). In this proposition, Spinoza argues that when we solely use reason, we are not guided by the fear of death. By using reason, we can contemplate life, not death. Additionally, we should strive to extend this life, and preserve
However, only a few in a life time choose not to be satisfied with only just survival rather they assume the yoke of redefining life for themselves and for others. In philosophy of religion, pantheism is usually in conflict with traditional religious authority, which claims that the pantheistic belief is nothing more than a blasphemous form of idolatrous worship. A man by the name Benedictus (Baruch) Spinoza took it upon his shoulders to construct an explainable theory of this deistic belief and as a result earned the name of the father of Pantheism. I, George Meza, had the privilege of investigating the life of this rational genius as he struggled along the path of enlightenment in a society that was as different to him as his theory of ethics was to the Synagogue and the Church. Spinoza’s works ranged from the political to the theistic, from the mathematical, to even the intellectual. I ask the question what trials and troubles in the life of Baruch Spinoza could birth such a passion for what was known at the time as heretical theology. What was the impact of Spinoza’s work on our technologically advanced society that has put aside terms such as G-d and ethic and has attempted to redefine the term free will?