spinoza
TRANSCRIPT
H I S T O R Y
O F
P O L I T I C A L T H O U G H T
–
S P I N O Z A
Spinoza (1632-1677)2
‘The true purpose of the state is in fact freedom.’
...
‘authority in sacred matters belongs wholly to the
sovereign powers’
The excommunication (1656)3
The excommunication (1656)4
Amsterdam as a ‘hot-bed of pernicious and hertical sectaries’:
•Calvinists
•Lutherans
•Catholics
•Remonstrants
•Mennonites
•Arians
•Sophists
•Socinians
•Jews
•Muslims
•atheists
•...
Spinoza ‘became one of the first people to live outside of any religious affiliation’
Right
Spinoza 5
Power EQUALS
Supreme law of nature:
Necessity of preservation results in:
Fear
&
Mutual
assistance
Right
Spinoza 6
Power EQUALS
Necessity of preservation results in:
Civil State
Spinoza 7
Universal law of nature:
NB, it always remains a choice
Right
Spinoza 8
Power EQUALS
Necessity of preservation results in:
FEAR
When religious authorities divide sovereign power:
Right
Spinoza 9
Power EQUALS
Necessity of preservation results in:
State
has jurisdiction
over civil
AND
religious
matters
Thus
Right
Spinoza 10
Power EQUALS
Necessity of preservation results in:
FEAR
When the state decides on religious doctrine:
Right
Spinoza 11
Power EQUALS
Necessity of preservation results in:
State
has jurisdiction
over civil
AND
external religious
matters
Thus
Lynching of Johan & Cornelis de Witt (1672) 12
Lynching of Johan & Cornelis de Witt (1672) 13
Lynching of Johan & Cornelis de Witt (1672) 14
Spinoza 15
‘I have spent several hours with Spinoza, after dinner. He
said to me that, on the day of the massacres of the De Witts,
he wanted to go out at night and post a placard near the
site of the massacres reading ultimi barbarorum. But his host
locked the house to keep him from going out, for he would
be exposed to being torn to pieces.’
–Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Spinoza – Freedom? 16
‘The true purpose of the state is in fact freedom.’
...
‘authority in sacred matters belongs wholly to the
sovereign powers’