Spinoza: Practical Philosophy

Description

A concise and illuminating book about the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza , one of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism . Spinoza's theoretical philosophy is one of the most radical attempts to construct a pure ontology with a single infinite substance. This book, which presents Spinoza's main ideas in dictionary form, has as its subject the opposition between ethics and morality, and the link between ethical and ontological propositions. His ethics is an ethology, rather than a moral science. Attention has been drawn to Spinoza by deep ecologists such as Arne Naess, the Norwegian philosopher and this reading of Spinoza by Gilles Deleuze lends itself to a radical ecological ethic. As Robert Hurley says in his introduction, “Deleuze opens us to the idea that the elements of the different individuals we compose may be nonhuman within us. One wonders, finally, whether Man might be defined as a territory, a set of boundaries, a limit on existence." Gilles Deleuze, known for his inquiries into desire, language, politics and power, finds a kinship between Spinoza and Nietzsche. He writes, "Spinoza did not believe in hope or even in courage; he believed only in joy and in vision . . . he more than any other gave me the feeling of a gust of air from behind each time I read him, of a witch's broom that he makes one mount." Gilles Deleuze was a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris at Vincennes. Robert Hurley is the translator of Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality . Review: Useful and interesting, but not a comprehensive summary - I came to this little (130 pp) book, originally published in French in 1970, via Toni Negri's essays on Spinoza. The translation for the 1988 English edition from City Lights is by Robert Hurley. There are five very readable essays by Deleuze, including a very informative biography. But the main text is the "Index of the Main Concepts of the 'Ethics'," and it is less readable as it is a non-systematic summary of Spinoza's great work. The preface suggests reading Deleuze on Spinoza intuitively, like poetry. In that spirit, here are the passages that made the biggest impact on me -- the quotations are from Deleuze, not Spinoza, unless noted as such: *** *** *** ATTRIBUTE "The Spinozan immanence is therefore no less opposed to emanation than to creation" (52). EMINENCE "If a triangle could speak, it would say that God is eminently triangular" -- Spinoza (63). FREEDOM "Freedom is always linked to essence and to what follows from it, not to will and what governs it" (70-71). NECESSARY "...[N]othing is possible in Nature; that is the essences of non-existing modes are not models or possibilities in a divine legislative intellect; there is nothing contingent in Nature" (94). POWER "One of the basic points of the 'Ethics' consists in denying that God has any power (potestas) analogous to a tyrant, or even an enlightened prince. God is not will, not even a will enlightened by a legislative intellect" (97). "...[T]he power of God is two-fold -- a power of existing and producing, and a power of thinking and comprehending..." (103). "The entire 'Ethics' presents itself as a theory of power, in opposition to morality as a theory of obligations" (104). PROPRIA "Ignorance of God's essence, that is, of his nature, has been constant... This is theology's basic error... God is endowed with anthropological and anthropomorphic properties, elevated to the infinite" (105). SIGN "...[T]he most serious error in theology consists precisely in its having disregarded and hidden the difference in nature between obeying and knowing, in having caused us to take principles of obedience for models of knowledge" (106). SPINOZA'S EVOLUTION "...[T]he 'Ethics' demonstrates a substantial identity [of God and Nature] based on the oneness of substance (pantheism)" (110-111). SPINOZA AND US "The important thing is to understand life, each living individuality, not as a form, or a development of form, but as a complex relation between different velocities, between deceleration and acceleration of particles. A composition of speeds and slownesses on a plane of immanence" (123). "Affective capacity, with a maximum threshold and a minimum threshold, is a constant notion in Spinoza" (124). "Spinoza's ethics has nothing to do with a morality; he conceives it as an ethology, that is, as a composition of fast and slow speeds, of capacities for affecting and being affected on this plane of immanence" (125). *** *** *** Deleuze found Spinoza inspirational. Negri finds Spinoza inspirational and continues to promote his philosophy. Through their writings, I find the 17th Century Spinoza inspirational enough to keep exploring. Review: Good introduction to Spinoza - A great book, but a little odd. It has three parts, roughly equal length. 1. A biography of Spinoza 2. A few short essays. These are easy to read and simple, excellent for beginners. If you are more familiar with Spinoza and are looking for a more comprehensive evaluation you're better off seeking Deleuze's full length work on the subject, Spinoza: Expressionism in Philosophy. 3. Glossary of Spinoza's terms. These are summaries written by Deleuze and not just the definitions that Spinoza gives. Some of the entries are quite detailed, taking up multiple pages. They are enjoyable to read, but it may be difficult for beginners to follow along without having the context of them. This part best serves as a refresher while reading along with Spinoza's works.