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Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (1670) is one of the most important philosophical works of the early modern period. In it Spinoza discusses at length the historical circumstances of the composition and transmission of the Bible, demonstrating the fallibility of both its authors and its interpreters. He argues that free enquiry is not only consistent with the security and prosperity of a state but actually essential to them, and that such freedom flourishes best in a democratic and republican state in which individuals are left free while religious organizations are subordinated to the secular power. His Treatise has profoundly influenced the subsequent history of political thought, Enlightenment 'clandestine' or radical philosophy, Bible hermeneutics, and textual criticism more generally. It is presented here in a translation of great clarity and accuracy by Michael Silverthorne and Jonathan Israel, with a substantial historical and philosophical introduction by Jonathan Israel.
This book presents the first accessible analysis of Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-politicus, situating the work in the context of Spinoza’s general philosophy and its 17th-century historical background. According to Spinoza it is impossible for a being to be infinitely perfect and to have a legislative will. This idea, demonstrated in the Ethics, is presupposed and further elaborated in the Tractatus Theologico-politicus. It implies not only that on the level of truth all revealed religion is false, but also that all authority is of human origin and that all obedience is rooted in a political structure. The consequences for authority as it is used in a religious context are explored: the authority of Scripture, the authority of particular interpretations of Scripture, and the authority of the Church. Verbeek also explores the work of two other philosophers of the period - Hobbes and Descartes - to highlight certain peculiarities of Spinoza's position, and to show the contrasts between their theories.
Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was published anonymously in 1670 and immediately provoked huge debate. Its main goal was to claim that the freedom of philosophizing can be allowed in a free republic and that it cannot be abolished without also destroying the peace and piety of that republic. Spinoza criticizes the traditional claims of revelation and offers a social contract theory in which he praises democracy as the most natural form of government. This new Critical Guide presents new essays by well-known scholars in the field and covers a broad range of topics, including the political theory and the metaphysics of the work, religious toleration, the reception of the text by other early modern philosophers, and the relation of the text to Jewish thought. It offers valuable new perspectives on this important and influential work.
The theory put forward in the last chapter, of the universal rights of the sovereign power, and of the natural rights of the individual transferred thereto, though it corresponds in many respects with actual practice, and though practice may be so arranged as to conform to it more and more, must nevertheless always remain in many respects purely ideal. No one can ever so utterly transfer to another his power and, consequently, his rights, as to cease to be a man; nor can there ever be a power so sovereign that it can carry out every possible wish.
Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise is simultaneously a work of philosophy and a piece of practical politics. It defends religious pluralism, a republican form of political organisation, and the freedom to philosophise, with a determination that is extremely rare in seventeenth-century thought. But it is also a fierce and polemical intervention in a series of Dutch disputes over issues about which Spinoza and his opponents cared very deeply. Susan James makes the arguments of the Treatise accessible, and their motivations plain, by setting them in their historical and philosophical context. She identifies the interlocking theological, hermeneutic, historical, philosophical, and political positions to which Spinoza was responding, shows who he aimed to discredit, and reveals what he intended to achieve. The immediate goal of the Treatise is, she establishes, a local one. Spinoza is trying to persuade his fellow citizens that it is vital to uphold and foster conditions in which they can cultivate their capacity to live rationally, free from the political manifestations and corrosive psychological effects of superstitious fear. At the same time, however, his radical argument is designed for a broader audience. Appealing to the universal philosophical principles that he develops in greater detail in his Ethics, and drawing on the resources of imagination to make them forceful and compelling, Spinoza speaks to the inhabitants of all societies, including our own. Only in certain political circumstances is it possible to philosophise, and learn to live wisely and well.
A THEOLOGICO-POLITICAL TREATISE by Spinoza ultimate intention is reveal the truth about Scripture and religion, and thereby to undercut the political power exercised in modern states by religious authorities. He also defends, at least as a political ideal, the tolerant, secular, and democratic polity. Spinoza is one of the most important philosophers—and certainly the most radical—of the early modern period. His extremely naturalistic views on God, the world, the human being and knowledge serve to ground a moral philosophy centered on the control of the passions leading to virtue and happiness. They also lay the foundations for a strongly democratic political thought and a deep critique of the pretensions of Scripture and sectarian religion. Of all the philosophers of the seventeenth century, perhaps none have more relevance today than Spinoza.
Trop souvent j’ai oublié qu’une seule chose est nécessaire. Jésus était là qui m’invitait à le contempler, à me tenir à ses pieds, simple comme un enfant, uniquement occupé de sa Sainte Face, attentif au regard dont Il m’illuminait l’âme. Mais moi, croyant le mieux servir si je m’agitais autour de lui, j’ai substitué ma volonté à la sienne. Je me suis affairé, çà et là, dans l’assemblée des fidèles ; j’ai prétendu me distinguer parmi les autres ; j’ai multiplié mes empressements comme pour Lui faire valoir mon zèle. Alors, sous l’apparence d’une activité sanctifiée, mon âme se ternit comme un miroir où s’étale la bave du Vieux Serpent. Ce n’était plus le Maître que je regardais, c’était moi-même avec mon sale orgueil. Quand mon âme, infatuée, dénombrant, avec complaisance, ses sollicitudes présentes et à venir, toute trépidante de pensées vaniteuses, est revenue s’agenouiller devant Jésus — voici qu’Il s’était en allé… Effaré, plein de désarroi, je l’ai cherché aux profondeurs de mon être. Écartant les formes et les images du monde, j’ai voulu retrouver cette flamme secrète qu’il m’avait donnée comme un reflet de l’étoile rédemptrice qui brille dans ses yeux. Elle s’était éclipsée. Quoi m’écriai-je, n’a-t-il pas dit : — Si quelqu’un m’aime, je viendrai en lui et je ferai en lui ma demeure ? Je n’ai donc pas su l’aimer de la façon dont il le demande ? Sa voix me répondit, très lointaine : — Le feu était ardent mais il ne s’élevait pas sans fumée. Puis j’entendis l’écho de ses pas s’affaiblir et se perdre dans la distance. Et je connus cette angoisse : la nuit de l’esprit par l’absence de Jésus. Parmi les ombres froides de cette nuit désolée, je fus dans un désert où il n’y avait plus de chemins ni de poteaux indicateurs. Mon seul Guide étant parti, j’errais, horriblement solitaire, comme au hasard. J’essayais de prier, mais toutes mes prières, en vain dardées vers le ciel, retombaient autour de moi, comme une poignée de sable sur une terre à jamais aride : elles se dispersaient au souffle des vents âpres qui balaient cette noire étendue. Si je faisais effort pour les renouveler, je ne parvenais à les articuler qu’avec ennui et dégoût. Je tentais de me réfugier dans l’Évangile, verger miraculeux où, naguère, Jésus m’avait permis de récolter les fruits suprasubstantiels de son enseignement. Mais il me sembla que c’était un enclos où ne végétaient que des arbres stériles. Bientôt il me devint impossible de prier ou de concevoir une fin à cet abandon. Le désert intérieur reculait ses limites à l’infini ; les ténèbres devenaient de plus en plus épaisses. Elles pesaient si fort que mon âme fléchit. Gisante sur le sol, ne pouvant même pas pleurer, suant une sueur sanglante, elle demeurait inerte dans le silence affreux que déchirait parfois le rire funèbre de celui qui se nomme : le père de la désespérance éternelle.
When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published. Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Steven Nadler tells the story of this book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired. A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs--Jacket p. [2].
This book, by one of the most prominent interpreters of Leo Strauss's thought, was the first to address the problem that Leo Strauss himself said was the theme of his studies: the theologico-political problem or the confrontation with the theological and the political alternative to philosophy as a way of life. In his theologico-political treatise, which comprises four parts and an appendix, Heinrich Meier clarifies the distinction between political theology and political philosophy and reappraises the unifying center of Strauss's philosophical enterprise. The book is the culmination of Meier's work on the theologico-political problem. It will interest anyone who seeks to understand both the problem caused by revelation for philosophy and the challenge posed by political-religious radicalism. The appendix makes available for the first time two lectures by Strauss that are immediately relevant to the subject of this book and that will open the way for future research and debate on the legacy of Strauss.
Spinoza's Political Treatise constitutes the very last stage in the development of his thought, as he left the manuscript incomplete at the time of his death in 1677. On several crucial issues - for example, the new conception of the 'free multitude' - the work goes well beyond his Theological Political Treatise (1670), and arguably presents ideas that were not fully developed even in his Ethics. This volume of newly commissioned essays on the Political Treatise is the first collection in English to be dedicated specifically to the work, ranging over topics including political explanation, national religion, the civil state, vengeance, aristocratic government, and political luck. It will be a major resource for scholars who are interested in this important but still neglected work, and in Spinoza's political philosophy more generally.