Baruch Spinoza’s Ethica

Every once in a while there comes along a book so grand in its design, so broad in its philosophical scope, and so bold in its conclusions that, regardless of whether or not one agrees with its claims, one can only admire the ambition and audacity of its author. Such is the case with the recently and, sadly, posthumously published Ethica of Benedictus de Spinoza (a Latinization of the author’s real name, Bento de Spinoza, in keeping with the language in which this monumental work has been written). This five-part treatise proposes to treat of nothing less than metaphysics, theology, philosophy of mind, epistemology, physics, psychology, political theory, and moral philosophy. The author, who first gained fame for his study of Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy and, later, infamy for what many consider the most scandalous book ever written, the anonymously published Theological-Political Treatise, now presents all the elements of his philosophy in systematic order and composed according to what he calls the mos geometricus. Before turning to the philosophical contents of this new work, let me say a word about its format. Spinoza—or BdS, as he is identified on the book’s title page—has chosen an unusual mode of presentation. The model is apparently Euclid’s Elements, and the specific metaphysical, theological, moral, and other claims that BdS wishes to establish appear as a series of numbered propositions, each accompanied by a formal demonstration that relies only on previously demonstrated propositions, as well as on the definitions and axioms that stand at the beginning of each of the books parts; there are also occasional scholia and corollaries, which serve to provide a more accessible explanation of what has just been ‘‘proven’’ in a more rigorous manner. It is not entirely clear why BdS has adopted the Euclidean format for material that is not itself mathematical. It may be that the author wants this work to appear to be in the same tradition as Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, to which BdS already paid homage in the title of his previous Tractatus TheologicoPoliticus. Or perhaps he believes this format confers upon his philosophical conclusions the same degree of certainty that Euclid’s demonstrations provide for his geometric truths. Indeed, just before embarking on his discussion of the role that the emotions play in human endeavor in Part Three (‘‘On the Origin and Nature of the Affects’’), he says that ‘‘I shall consider human actions and appetites just as if it were a question of lines, planes and bodies’’. Perhaps, too, given the author’s conviction that true knowledge (embodied in the logically necessary conceptual relationships between ideas) mirrors the determinism of the world (embodied in the causally necessary relationships between things), there is no more appropriate way to present the true philosophical account of the world than by a series of rigorously demonstrated, thus necessarily connected, propositions. Either way, while BdS may believe the geometric mode of presentation contributes to the clarity and persuasiveness to his philosophical insights, it does not make things easy for the reader. This book is a very difficult read. Part One is titled ‘‘On God’’. BdS begins with concepts and axioms that will at least seem familiar to any reader S. Nadler (&) Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5185 Helen C. White Hall, 600 North Park St., Madison, WI 53706, USA e-mail: smnadler@wisc.edu 1 Since this choice of Latin as the language of philosophy is somewhat outdated, in what follows I will quote from the English translation of Spinoza’s treatise.