An imagined portrait1632–1677
Spinoza, who saw causes
The feeling of being free is an illusion.Game 3 · Reconstruction; Ethics II, P35 Schol.
Baruch Spinoza was a philosopher born in 1632 into a Portuguese-Jewish merchant family in Amsterdam. Record
In 1656, at the age of 23, he was excommunicated by Amsterdam's Jewish community. He then lived in Rijnsburg, Voorburg and The Hague, grinding lenses and writing. Record
In his lifetime he published the Theological-Political Treatise (1670) without his name; his major work, the Ethics, was published by his friends only in 1677, the year he died. Record
Like a geometry book, the Ethics derives propositions from definitions and axioms, and deals with God and nature, human emotions and freedom. Record
He wrote that emotions, too, are part of nature and so have causes, and that the more clearly we understand those causes, the less we are carried away by our emotions. Record · Paraphrase
He was born in Amsterdam on 24 November. His family were Jewish merchants who had come over from Portugal to escape the Inquisition. Record
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), 'Spinoza, Baruch' jewishencyclopedia.com · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition, 'Spinoza, Baruch' Wikisource,_Baruch · IEP 'Spinoza' (Blake D. Dutton) §1 IEP · SEP 'Spinoza' §1 SEP
An early biography (Colerus) relates that one evening, leaving the old Portuguese synagogue, he dodged a knife that someone swung at him and kept the coat the knife had pierced. Accounts differ on the place and on how badly he was hurt; Bayle, for example, writes that he was slightly wounded by the knife on leaving a theatre. Tradition
Colerus, The Life of Benedict de Spinosa, English translation (1706), archive.org lifebenedictdes01colegoog ("He kept still the Coat that was run thro' with the Dagger") · Steven Nadler, 'Who Tried to Kill Spinoza?', Jewish Review of Books, Winter 2019 jewishreviewofbooks.com (Bayle 1697: theatre / Colerus 1705: synagogue) · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition (before the excommunication, dagger)
On 27 July Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community excommunicated him (herem). The writ cites 'abominable heresies' and 'monstrous deeds' but does not say specifically what they were. Record
SEP 'Spinoza' §1 ("We do not know for certain what Spinoza's 'monstrous deeds' and 'abominable heresies' were") · IEP 'Spinoza' §1 · Jewish Encyclopedia (27 July, aged 23)
He moved to Rijnsburg, near Leiden. Record
SEP §1 ("By 1661 … living in Rijnsburg") · IEP §1 · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition
He moved to Voorburg, near The Hague, and published the Principles of Cartesian Philosophy. Record
IEP §1 (1663 Voorburg, Principles of Cartesian Philosophy) · SEP §1 (completed 1663) · Jewish Encyclopedia (Voorburg, April 1663)
He published the Theological-Political Treatise without his name. In the same year he moved to The Hague. Record
SEP §1 ("published anonymously … in 1670") · IEP §1 (1670 anonymous publication, The Hague) · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition (The Hague 1670–1677)
On 20 August Johan de Witt, who had led the Republic, and his brother Cornelis were killed by an angry mob in The Hague. Leibniz noted, as he heard it from Spinoza, that Spinoza meant to go out that night and put up a placard near the scene reading 'ultimi barbarorum' (lowest of barbarians), but his landlord locked the door to stop him. Record
Rijksmuseum, collection note on 'The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers' ("On 20 August 1672") Rijksmuseum · SEP 'Spinoza's Political Philosophy' (rampjaar, the killing of the De Witt brothers) · Leibniz's note (Foucher de Careil 1854) Wikisource · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition
Fabritius, conveying the wish of the Elector Palatine, offered him a professorship of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, but he declined. Record
Colerus (1706), English translation (Fabritius's letter of 16 February 1673, "cum amplissima Philosophandi libertate") · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition (offer and refusal, 1673) · The Spinoza Web, 'Ludwig, Karl' spinozaweb.org
He finished the Ethics and prepared to publish it, but did not publish it that year. The book did not appear in his lifetime. Record
IEP §1 ("By 1675 it was complete") · Edwin Curley, editor's introduction to Ethics Part I, 'The Metaphysical Moralist' ("Spinoza took steps to publish this work in 1675, though it did not appear until 1677"; letter to Oldenburg, July 1675) pls.nd.edu
Leibniz came to The Hague to visit Spinoza and met him. Record
IEP 'Leibniz' ("an excursion to The Hague to visit Spinoza") IEP · SEP 'Leibniz' (18–21 November 1676 — used only for the dates; the SEP wrongly gives the place as Amsterdam, so it is not used for the place) SEP · Leibniz's note ("J'ay passé quelques heures après dîner avec Spinoza")
He died in The Hague on 21 February, aged 44. The cause was a lung disease; many records describe it as tuberculosis (consumption). Record
Jewish Encyclopedia (21 February 1677, consumption) · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition ("Consumption", the day after Saturday 20 February, "little more than forty-four") · IEP §1 (respiratory illness)
His friends gathered the Ethics and his other unpublished writings and published them as the Opera Posthuma. Record
IEP §1 ("B.D.S. Opera Posthuma") · SEP §1 ("soon published by his friends") · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition
His posthumous works were banned throughout Holland. Record
IEP §1 ("in 1678, these works were banned throughout Holland") · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition (banned 1678)
Spinoza did not see God as a personal being who rules the world from outside nature. Part 4 of the Ethics speaks of 'that eternal, infinite being which we name God, or Nature'. Record · Paraphrase
Ethics, Part 4, Preface ("quod Deum seu naturam appellamus") · Part 4, Proposition 4, demonstration ("Dei sive naturae potentia") — Latin text, Meijer edition · SEP §2 · IEP §3 ("Deus sive Natura")
He held that everything follows necessarily from prior causes. Part 1, Proposition 29 of the Ethics says that 'nothing in nature is contingent'. Record · Paraphrase
Ethics, Part 1, Proposition 29 ("In rerum natura nullum datur contingens") — Latin text, Meijer edition · SEP §2 · IEP §3
He said people believe themselves free because they are aware of their actions but ignorant of the causes that determine them. He did not accept a free will that chooses at whim, without causes. Record · Paraphrase
Ethics, Part 2, Proposition 35, Scholium · Part 1, Appendix — Latin text (Meijer edition, thelatinlibrary) · SEP §2 · IEP §3
He held that emotions such as hatred and anger have causes, like everything else in nature. He wrote that once we understand a passive emotion clearly, it ceases to be passive. Record · Paraphrase
Ethics, Part 3, Preface · Part 5, Proposition 3 — Latin text (Meijer edition, thelatinlibrary) · SEP §2 (emotions and knowledge) · IEP §3
In the Theological-Political Treatise he argued that allowing freedom to philosophize does no harm to piety or to the peace of the state; rather, suppressing that freedom puts peace and piety at risk. Record · Paraphrase
Subtitle of the Theological-Political Treatise (quoted in SEP §1) · IEP §1 ("enhanced by freedom of thought") · SEP 'Spinoza's Political Philosophy' (libertas philosophandi)
I will examine human actions and desires exactly as though the subject were lines, planes or solid bodies.
humanas actiones atque appetitus considerabo perinde, ac si quaestio de lineis, planis aut de corporibus esset.
People go wrong in believing they are free; that belief rests on nothing but this: they are aware of what they do, yet do not know the causes that determine it.
falluntur homines, quod se liberos esse putant; quae opinio in hoc solo consistit, quod suarum actionum sint conscii et ignari causarum a quibus determinantur.
Hatred grows when it is repaid with hatred, and on the contrary can be destroyed by love.
Odium reciproco odio augetur, et amore contra deleri potest.
A feeling that is a passion stops being a passion the moment we form a clear and distinct idea of it.
Affectus, qui passio est, desinit esse passio, simulatque eius claram et distinctam formamus ideam.
Spinoza's family belonged to a Jewish community that had come from Portugal to Amsterdam to escape the Inquisition. In the 'disaster year' (rampjaar) of 1672, which began with the French invasion, Johan de Witt, who had led the Republic, and his brother Cornelis were killed by an angry mob in The Hague. His posthumous works, including the Ethics, appeared in 1677, the year he died, and were banned in Holland the following year.
In Book 14 of Part 3 of his autobiography, Poetry and Truth, Goethe wrote that reading the Ethics he felt 'my passions calmed'. In his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Hegel wrote that 'to be a follower of Spinoza is the essential commencement of all Philosophy' and 'You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all' (tr. Haldane and Simson). Scholars regard him as one of the major philosophers of the late seventeenth century after Descartes.
Myth'Even if I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would still plant an apple tree today' is a saying of Spinoza.
FactThe saying is not found in Spinoza's writings. In Germany it is known as a saying of Luther, but no basis for it has been found in Luther's writings either, and its first documented appearance is in 1944. In Korea it is widely known as Spinoza's saying; according to one newspaper's investigation, a 1966 newspaper column is the earliest known example.
Asia Economy, Baek Woo-jin, 'Spinoza never said the apple-tree line' (2015-03-19, in Korean) view.asiae.co.kr · Falschzitate, 'Und wenn ich wüsste, dass morgen die Welt unterginge …' (2018) falschzitate.blogspot.com (circular of the Confessing Church in Hesse, October 1944)MythSpinoza died from glass dust he inhaled while grinding lenses.
FactThe cause of death was a lung disease, which several encyclopedias record as tuberculosis (consumption). That glass dust from grinding lenses may have made the illness worse is a conjecture.
JAMA Ophthalmology, 'Baruch Spinoza: Heretic, Lens Grinder' ("probably exacerbated") jamanetwork.com · Jewish Encyclopedia (1906, consumption) · Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 edition ("Consumption")