Speaking of Spinoza (2)

Spinoza's substance monism is considered by many to be the Western expression of philosophical Taoism. Compare the first stanzas of the Tao Te Ching with the first of Spinoza's propositions and a stark similarity appears. From there, however, they part company in method and implication. Lao Tzu will tell you that not everything is as it seems to be, and Spinoza, considering his dualist-moralist audience, wants everyone to know that things are exactly as they appear.

I don't know exactly what is meant by 'modernity', and I cannot say what effects Spinoza did or did not have on it. With the exception of Leibniz and his perversion-plagiarism of Spinoza, Spinozism didn't see much daylight until 150 years after his death, and even then, only among scholars. On could say that Spinoza was part of a chain of 'modernity' among the likes of Galileo, Da Vinci, Bruno, Uriel de Costa, and many others whose legacies and ideas likely disappeared during the Inquisition. To say that Spinoza had a marked effect would be true, but the strongest? No. I think Galileo gets that honor.

Spinoza wanted to change the language of religion, and thus of human ethics, from one of moral judgment (holy vs. evil) to natural ethic (good vs. bad). He used the story of Adam and Eve as a metaphor for this. "Had Adam", Spinoza claims, "seen the apple as bad i.e. poison to his physical body (rather than as evil), then there would have no possible way for anyone to convince him to eat from it." Now to break down the moral aspect one has to address the alleged source of morality, which was the common Judeo-Christian understanding of God.

Spinoza's Judaism taught him that God is Infinite, Eternal, and yet, in spite of It's expansive nature, takes a very personal and specific interest in human affairs. Spinoza was also taught that suffering and pain was part of Judaism, but that God had a plan which would lead to a Messianic Era and reward in the hereafter. Like Uriel de Costa before him, and with whom everyone is pretty sure Spinoza befriended at some point, the questions of national or personal suffering versus the loving and protecting God of Israel likely weighed heavy on the minds of many a Marranno. I imagine that a Spinoza would have asked many of the same questions we do today in terms of why bad things happen to good people, vice versa, or as to how Providence and free will coexist. A lot of conflict there to resolve.

Spinoza also took a more positive attitude regarding humanity. He posited a 'positive freedom' which he called 'self determinism". Today, we might call it 'self empowerment' or some other self-esteem boosting slogan. The secret to this self-determinism is awareness that comes through what he calls the "adequate idea". I would sum it up into "Know the thing, know its effects, and know its source." This is where Spinoza sees morality as hindering freedom, because a moral assumption does not consider evident cause and effects, it merely assumes an effect based upon an 'opinion', which Spinoza considers to be the lowest form of human understanding. In self-determinism, I know full well that I am being influenced by things beyond my control, yet the adequate idea allows my own degree of influence to increase in proportion to the adequacy of the idea held. (Think Social Cognitive Theory or Reciprocal Determinism of Albert Bandura.)

Spiritualists and philosophers today look to QM and Relativity as the apex of human understanding and possibility, while trying to shove some philosophical or religious framework into modern science (Fritjof Capra is a good example.) For Spinoza, the highest science of his day, available to him, was Euclid. I bet that he had one question on his mind that plagued him to no end. It is a simple question at which many balk, but I think it was the most profound dilemma he encountered. The $64,000 question is ; "What must God be in order to be God?" This is where Euclid came in. Judaism itself gave Spinoza no tools to answer that problem, and even the Kabala, which I believe he was exposed to early on, only provides a Platonic-hermetic apparatus for expanding the idea without ever directly addressing that question.

If I were asked to sum up my view of Spinoza in a sentence, it would be "If it isn't natural, then it isn't at all. I wouldn't worry about it."

Deus sive Natura!

(immoralism, naturalism, determinism, atheism)