SPIRIT
220descent born in Amsterdam. He was
excommunicated from the synagogue in
1656 for heretical views such as the belief
that God has a body and the denial of the
immortality of the soul. Spinoza believed
that philosophy should be done in a
deductive method like geometry, and his
principle work, the posthumous Ethica
Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata (1677),
reflects this view. Spinoza’s philosophy
draws on classical Stoicism, medieval
Jewish thought, and Cartesian philosophy.
Spinoza found Cartesian dualism unintel-
ligible and embraced substance monism,
the belief that all particular things are
merely finite modes of one substance. In
Spinoza’s view, this substance is God, and
it is infinite and consists of infinite attri-
butes. God is the only free cause, though
whether God is considered as the active
natura naturans or the passive natura
naturata, God is determined by his essen-
tial nature, and the result is Spinoza’s
affirmation of determinism. Spinoza’s
rejection of Descartes’ views of substance
simplified the mind-body problem, as
he only had to deal with one substance
rather than with two totally distinct ones.
Spinoza understood the mind as the idea
of the body, so that the body is a finite
mode explicated under the attribute of
extension, while the mind is the same
mode explicated under the attribute of
thought. Salvation for Spinoza consists of
the medieval concept of the intellectual
love of God (amor intellectualis Dei),
though without the Jewish and Christian
conception of God as a being subject to
the passions and with a will, combined
with a Stoic acceptance of the necessity of
all things however they occur. His works
include Descartes’ Principles of Philosophy
(1663), and Theological-Political Treatise
(1670).SPIRIT. See PNEUMA.SPIRITUAL / SPIRITUALITY. That
which has to do with matters of the spirit,
often conceived of in opposition to the
physical or material world. Spirituality
emphasizes the connection between one’s
own inner spirit and the divine. Spiritual
practices include prayer, meditation, and
so on. Traditionally, the spiritual was
contrasted with the secular, but today it is
often contrasted with religion: e.g., “I’m
spiritual but not religious.” This use of
the term highlights the personal, non-
dogmatic nature of spirituality. Many
religious practitioners, however, cultivate
a deep spirituality within a particular
religious tradition.STEINER, RUDOLF (1861–1925). A
German philosopher who developed an
organic view of human history, according
to which human life is evolving into the
realm of spiritual freedom and fulfill-
ment. Initially drawn to theosophy (a late
nineteenth-century movement that cen-
tered on God and spirituality but not as
limited to any one religion), he came to