The Wisdom of the Philosopher Spinoza
Like Francis Bacon, the great philosopher Spinoza lived in a world dominated by religion. Unfornately for Spinoza, he challenged the Church and was excommunicated and forced to live in hiding. To us and to humanity, this forced hiding allowed him to think of brilliant ideas and challenge notions. In the following are a few of his ideas.
Spinoza on Religion
When told that a certain religion triumphed over others, here was Spinoza’s reply:
“You who assume that you have at last found the best religion, or rather the best teachers, and fixed your credulity upon them, how do you know that they are the best among those who have taught religions, or now teach, or shall hereafter teach them? Have you examined all those religions, ancient and modern, which are taught here, and in India, all the world over? And even supposing that you have duly examined them, how do you know that you have chosen the best?”¹
Spinoza on Material Belongings and True Happiness
He reveals his thoughts on happiness by explaining in his book on the improvement of the Intellect:
“But the more one possesses of either of them, the more the pleasure is increased, and the more one is in consequence encouraged to increase them; whereas if at any time our hope is frustrated, there arises in us the deepest of pains (..,) But the love towards a thing eternal and infinite alone feeds the mind with a pleasure secure from all pain…”²
Spinoza on Good and Bad
“Whenever, then, anything in nature seems to us ridiculous, absurd or evil, it is because we have but a partial knowledge of things, and are in the main ignorant of the order and coherence of nature as a whole, and because we want everything to be arranged according to the dictates of our own reason.”³
Spinoza on Human Thought, Will & Nature
The Intellect is merely an abstract and short-hand term for a series of ideas; and will an abstract term for a series of actions or volitions. The will is conscious ideas held long enough in the conscious or in other words, desire or instinct (the latter conscious). Human instinct is the device to preserve the individual and thus there is no free will. Although we are free for volitions and desires, we do not choose these desires.⁴
Spinoza on Rationality
There is no rationality to Spinoza or rather it can only be derived from irrationality,. It can be summed up by some of Nietzche’s quote:
“An emotion can neither be hindered nor removed except by a contrary or stronger emotion.”⁵
References
- Spinoza. Epistle 74.
- Spinoza. Improvement of the Intellect. Ch4
- Spinoza. Tractatus Politicus. Ch2.
- Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. 226–227.
- Nietzche. AntiChrist.IV. 7, 14.
