War (1618–1648), he proposed that religion and truth be separated altogether.
This separation, he believed, would be the best safeguard against fanaticism. And
pious conduct flourishes best in an atmosphere of free speech.
His Theological-Political Treatiseattracted a great deal of criticism. It also
brought an invitation to the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg,
Germany. Although the invitation included a guarantee of academic freedom,
Spinoza rejected it out of his passion for freedom to speak and write as he saw fit.
The rigor of his simple life, with the glass dust of his trade, hastened his death
from consumption at the age of 44, two years before Hobbes died at 91.
Immediately following his death, Spinoza’s other works, including Political
Treatise(which supports individual liberty, religious tolerance, and democracy);
On the Improvement of the Intellect; and his masterpiece,Ethics, were published.
Whereas Descartes and Hobbes used the geometrical method, Spinoza used geo-
metrical formas well. The Ethicsis presented as a geometrical system, developing
propositions from axioms and definitions.
In Books I and II of his Ethics,reprinted here in the Samuel Shirley transla-
tion, Spinoza explores God and the nature and origin of mind. He begins by
accepting Descartes’ idea that “infinite substance” is completely independent and
necessary. But he claims that Descartes had contradicted himself by allowing for
“finite substances” as well. Instead, Spinoza claims that there could only be one
substance: God. God exists necessarily and as God is the only substance, what we
call “Nature” is also God. This also means that whatever happens is necessary
(though individuals are often confused and do not understand the connections).
Although God is the only substance, God has infinite attributes. The only two
divine attributes we can know are thought (of which minds are modifications) and
extension (of which bodies are modifications). To Spinoza, Descartes was wrong
to present mind and body as two separate substances (with all the concomitant
problems of interaction). Instead, says Spinoza, body and mind are both attributes
of the One substance. Thinking substance and extended substance are really the
same substance.
In Books III to V of the Ethics, Spinoza argues that we must free ourselves from
the tyranny of the passions. The key to this freedom is an understanding of God that
allows us to see the necessary, rational structure of reality: “The more this knowl-
edge, that things are necessary, is applied to particular things...the greater is the
power of the mind over the emotions.” The final goal of this knowledge is “blessed-
ness,” which consists of intellectual love toward God. This program of overcoming
the passions by reason may be difficult, but Spinoza concludes that “all things excel-
lent are as difficult as they are rare” (an apt description of Spinoza’s classic).
For a general introduction to Spinoza’s life and thought, see Stuart Hampshire,
Spinoza(Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1952); Henry E. Allison,Benedict
De Spinoza, rev. ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987); Alan Donagan,
Spinoza(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988); Herman De Dijn,Spinoza:
The Way to Wisdom(West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1996); Roger