Johanna on Spoutible

2/19

I am a philosophy professor, but only read the Ethics recently. I got intrigued when in 2021 Yitzhak Melamed, who wanted to film a documentary on Spinoza, was declared persona non grata (see the strongly worded letter here) by the local Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. 2/

02:49 PM - May 15, 2023

2

1

6

3/19

Spinoza grew up in a Portuguese Jewish community in the Dutch Republic, which was tolerant for different religions. He was the son of a merchant. At the age of 24 (in 1656) he was placed under herem (excommunication) by his community, who condemned him for his abominable heresies and monstrous deeds

02:52 PM - May 15, 2023

1

6

4/19

So why was Spinoza condemned like this ("abominable heresies" see the T-shirt), ? We can never know for sure but Steven Nadler, Spinoza expert, speculates it was because of Spinoza's radical ideas. He was bright and people thought he might become a Rabbi but his ideas alarmed the community.

T-shirt with a picture of Spinoza and the text "abominable heresies and monstrous deeds"

02:56 PM - May 15, 2023

1

6

5/19

When we look at his writing, which was mostly published posthumously or anonymously, we see radical thought. For example, in the Theological Political Treatise (1670) Spinoza argues that the Bible is the work of humans and should be analyzed as a historical text.

02:57 PM - May 15, 2023

2

3

21

6/19

Now on to the Ethics. It's a very peculiar book that explains an entire system, starting from a picture of reality (metaphysics) and ending with how to live a good life, and it does so in the form of a Euclidean demonstration (in geometry) with propositions, axioms, proofs.

02:59 PM - May 15, 2023

1

6

7/19

It already starts in Part I very strangely with the idea that there is only one substance (kind of thing) and that is God. God comprises the whole of reality. So, we are really all part of God and different presentations (modes) of this one divine reality

03:00 PM - May 15, 2023

1

8

8/19

God creates with absolute necessity. Everything unfolds as God creates, and could not have gone differently. So that means that we have no free will. We think we could've acted otherwise, but everything is predetermined and could not have gone otherwise.

03:01 PM - May 15, 2023

3

2

5

9/19

Nevertheless, Spinoza thinks freedom is important. But freedom is *not* free will. Freedom is the freedom from your passions (emotions). People are in the thralls of their emotions, and it leads them to blindly chase prestige, wealth...and they get unhappy. This is what Spinoza calls "human bondage"

03:02 PM - May 15, 2023

2

8

10/19

Moreover, chasing our passions makes it very hard for us to live together in society. Spinoza thinks living together is a great good. It allows us to create art and science (both had reached great heights in his time, e.g., Rembrandt, Vermeer) but you cannot do it on your own

Vermeer's painting of the Astronomer from 1668 is in the time and place Spinoza lived, the Golden Age Dutch republic

03:07 PM - May 15, 2023

1

8

11/19

For example, Spinoza thinks chasing prestige is "empty" (E4p58)
* it's a zero-sum game so at the expense of someone else
* you base your self-esteem on the fickle opinion of the multitude)
* you end up being more happy in crushing your competitors than in winning, you become anxious

Schol.: The love of esteem which is called empty is a self-esteem
that is encouraged only by the opinion of the multitude. When that ceases, the self-esteem ceases, i.e. (by P52S), the highest good that each one loves. That is why he who exults at being esteemed by the multitude is made anxious daily, strives, sacrifices, and schemes, in order to preserve his reputation. For the multitude is fickle and incon stant; unless one’s reputation is guarded,31 it is quickly destroyed. In deed, because everyone desires to secure the applause of the multi- tude, each one willingly puts down the reputation of the other. And since the struggle is over a good thought to be the highest, this gives rise to a monstrous lust of each to crush the other in any way possible. The one who at last emerges as victor exults more in having harmed

03:09 PM - May 15, 2023

1

2

11

12/19

Think of someone like Elon Musk. With that amount of wealth why isn't he the happiest man on Earth? He seems rather small-minded and petty, he keeps on trying to prove over and over how great he is, he surrounds himself with fawners. Spinoza explains why this is. He's in bondage to his desires.

03:11 PM - May 15, 2023

1

4

24

13/19

And now we get to the crucial part of the Ethics, parts IV and V. Having explained how we are all part of God, but all subject to our emotions, which make us unhappy, Spinoza explains in IV and V how to achieve "blessedness" or beatitude. Now in his time people did think that blessedness is possible

03:12 PM - May 15, 2023

1

5

14/19

But they thought you had to wait until you got to the afterlife! Here's the deal: you could just chase your desires and fulfill your every whim, but then you'd burn in Hell. So, Spinoza thinks, people think they must be virtuous and then they get to heaven. Be good now, enjoy later.

03:14 PM - May 15, 2023

1

6

15/19

Moreover, if people "believed instead that minds die with the body" they "would prefer to govern all their actions according to lust, and to obey fortune rather than themselves." -- However, Spinoza thinks most people are wrong. You don't have to choose between happiness and virtue.

03:15 PM - May 15, 2023

1

5

16/19

And you don't have to wait until an afterlife. You can be blessed in *this life*. Now this is a very hopeful message. How to achieve it? It is simply to understand the world (God) and to love God. Understand that everything happens inevitably and not cling to your passions.

03:17 PM - May 15, 2023

1

6

17/19

There is a unity of virtue and blessedness. It consists of our knowledge and love of God, which leads to our adequate knowledge of the world.
This knowledge helps us to identify how we come in the grip of passions, which helps us to loosen that grip and become freer.

03:17 PM - May 15, 2023

1

4

18/19

Here Spinoza echos eastern philosophy, namely the liberation from clinging in e.g., Buddhist philosophy. Once you become enlightened you realize that this clinging is vain and is the cause of your sadness. He also echoes Vedantan philosophy, where atman = brahman (you are God and God is you)

03:19 PM - May 15, 2023

1

7