Baruch de Spinoza, or as later known by Benedictus de Spinoza, was a 17th century philosopher that came under much hostility because of his renunciation of the accepted religious perceptions of god. This is not to say that Spinoza repudiated god’s existence, on the contrary, Spinoza considered himself to believe in god, but in a different more natural sense. Spinoza received much denunciation and criticism for his beliefs from religious figure heads. He was excommunicated from the Jewish community because his ideas were contrary and revolutionary to the traditional Jewish religion. In addition to that, all works of Spinoza were considered prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church. This is not to say that no one agreed with Spinoza, in fact, he was offered prestigious teaching positions but declined them. However, when you butt heads with the religious status quo within the Jewish community that he was apart of, one has to expect to receive opposition and criticism.
In order to understand the criticisms of Baruch Spinoza’s beliefs, we look at his work “Ethics; Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect; and Selected Letters” translated by Samuel Shirley and edited by Seymour Feldman. This work by Spinoza is broken down in five parts. The first part talks about god. The first part has eight definitions of which the ‘geometric’ proof for Spinoza’s system is based on. Spinoza keeps on going and expostulates that all events are determined and based on fixed laws. Anything that is of Nature (god), must obey these laws.
The second part is more about the nature of the mind. Some important themes in part II of the Ethics are the relationship between thought and extension and that they are both attributes of substance, adequate and inadequ...
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... understanding of ourselves and the world by thinking things in a rational and procedural order. This understanding allows us to peruse a type of freedom that gives order within a conflicted system. By gaining some understanding of reality as an integral part of our system and recognizing our place within this whole of god, we come to participate in god’s divine nature.
Works Cited
Hampshire, Stuart. "Spinoza and the Idea of Freedom." Spinoza: A Collection of Critical Essays. By Marjorie G. Grene. University of Notre Dame, 1979. 297-317. Print.
Nadler, Steven M. The Best of All Possible Worlds: a Story of Philosophers, God, and Evil. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. Print.
Spinoza, Benedictus De, Samuel Shirley, and Seymour Feldman. The Ethics ; Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect ; Selected Letters. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 1992. Print.
In this paper I shall consider Spinoza’s argument offered in the second Scholium to Proposition 8, which argues for the impossibility of two substances sharing the same nature. I shall first begin by explaining, in detail, the two-step structure of the argument and proceed accordingly by offering a structured account of its relation to the main claim. Consequently I shall point out what I reasonably judge to be a mistake in Spinoza’s line of reasoning; that is, that the definition of a thing does not express a fixed number of individuals under that definition. By contrast, I hope to motivate the claim that a true definition of a thing does in fact express a fixed number of individuals that fall under that definition. I shall then present a difficulty against my view and concede in its insufficiency to block Spinoza’s conclusion. Finally, I shall resort to a second objection in the attempt to prove an instance by which two substances contain a similar attribute, yet differ in nature. Under these considerations, I conclude that Spinoza’s thesis is mistaken.
...thout the enlightenment of the soul to become a part of the life divine, the higher powers pertaining to God.
Spinoza cites the source of the misconception of freedom as man’s inability to understand himself and the causes of his actions. Spinoza expounds on this confusion, “So, experience itself, no less clearly than reason, teaches that men believe themselves free because they are conscious of their own, and ignorant of the causes by which they are determined, that the decisions of the mind are nothing but the appetites themselves, which therefore vary as the disposition of the body.”(p.157) Spinoza conceives decisions and determination to be the same thing, but considered under different lights. When being considered through the lens of thought, the idea is considered a decision; while through the light of extension, it is considered determination, an action caused by laws of motion and rest. Though considered differently, the source of both of these ideas are caused by the striving of the human will, and thus dependent on
God is by defined as, “a substance consisting of infinite attributes” in Proposition 11. Spinoza presents 3 Axioms based off his definitions to prove God’s existence. They are as follows: “(e)verything that exists, exists either in itself or in something else”, “(t)hat which cannot be conceived through anything else must be conceived though itself”, and “(t)hat from a given definite cause an effect necessarily follows”. He uses these, along with his Propositions and Definitions to argue God’s existence in four steps.
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...
Independently, as one grows in age, their actions should make a daily reflection to God. In “A Theology of Liberation,” Gutierrez avers that, "The present life is considered to be a test: one’s actions are judged and assessed in relation to the transcendent end. The perspective here is moralistic, and the spirituality is one of flight from this world...
This paper seeks to discuss the first question. It will have its basis on the first two meditations of Descartes, representing Rationalism, as well as draw from empiricists’ points of view for contrasting views and discussion. I will draw on the curriculum for references, namely “Think, Simon Blackburn, 1999” as well as “The Philosophy Gym, Stephen Law, 2003”. Furthermore, references to the slide from the “Knowledge”-seminar will be used.
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.
Rorty, Amélie. 1980. "Where Does the Akratic Break Take Place". Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 58, No. 94: 333-346. in Action. Essays in the Philosophy of Mind. Boston: Beacon Press.
Part 1: Choose one or two of the Spinoza´s Fourth Part of Ethics and explain the sense of the proposition. Add to your explanation an example and finally your own critical assessment of Spinoza 's position.
1) Oxford Readings in Philosophy. The Concept of God. New York: Oxford University press 1987
Johnathan Robert’s life has been characterized by a keen ability to self teach. At two years old, he suffered an accident that broke his femur. Within weeks of his caste being removed, he relearned the skill of walking. At no older than six years old Johnathan had received numerous ear surgeries yet refused to allow his speech to reflect any of his hearing loss. By the age of seven, he had effectively taught himself how to read and write. According to the philosophy of John Locke, Johnathan’s knowledge did not come from innate ideas or principles, but rather from experiences and sensations. Although John Locke’s thoughts were monumental, flaws exist in the rejection of innate ideas.
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.
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?