Baruch Spinoza
Dieu et la nature ne font qu’un, tout arrive par nécessité, et la liberté consiste à comprendre cette nécessité au lieu de lutter contre elle.
Repères
Dieu ou la Nature : il n’existe qu’une seule substance. La liberté consiste à comprendre la nécessité dont tout découle.
Idées clés
- Deus sive Natura
- Monisme
- Conatus
- Liberté de penser
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Influence
Influences reçues de 3
Hasdaï Crescas
influencé par ✓
In a letter to Lodewijk Meyer (1663) Spinoza cited ‘Rab Chasdai’ for a proof of God that holds even if the series of causes is infinite. B. Spinoza, letter to L. Meyer (1663); H. Crescas, Or Adonai; SEP “Hasdai Crescas”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Hasdaï Crescas › v. 1340–1411
Nicolas Machiavel
influencé par ✓
In the Political Treatise (1677) Spinoza called Machiavelli ‘most acute’ and suggested The Prince may have meant to warn a free people against entrusting itself to one ruler. B. Spinoza, Tractatus politicus (1677); SEP “Spinoza’s Political Philosophy”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Nicolas Machiavel › 1469–1527
Thomas Hobbes
influencé par ✓
Spinoza took Hobbes’ thesis that natural right extends as far as power (Theological-Political Treatise, 1670), but kept natural right intact in the civil state (letter to Jelles, 1674). B. Spinoza, Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670); letter to J. Jelles (1674); SEP “Spinoza’s Political Philosophy”
Thomas Hobbes › 1588–1679
A influencé 20
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
a influencé ✓
Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre (1794) put the absolute I where Spinoza had put substance, and Fichte saw in Spinoza’s system the consistent form of dogmatism. J. G. Fichte, Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre (1794); Erste Einleitung in die Wissenschaftslehre (1797); SEP “Johann Gottlieb Fichte”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Johann Gottlieb Fichte › 1762–1814
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
a influencé ✓
Hegel held that thinking must begin with Spinoza’s substance, yet in the Phenomenology (1807) demanded that the true be grasped not only as substance but also as subject. G. W. F. Hegel, Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807), Preface; Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie (1833), “Spinoza”; SEP “Hegel”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling
a influencé ✓
Schelling told Hegel in 1795 that he had become a Spinozist and presented his identity philosophy in Spinoza’s geometrical manner (Presentation of My System, 1801). F. W. J. Schelling, letter to Hegel, 4 Feb. 1795; Darstellung meines Systems der Philosophie (1801); SEP “Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling”
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling › 1775–1854
Friedrich Nietzsche
a influencé ✓
In a postcard to Overbeck (1881) Nietzsche hailed Spinoza as his precursor, who like him denied free will, purposes, a moral world order and evil. F. Nietzsche, postcard to F. Overbeck, 30 July 1881; SEP “Friedrich Nietzsche”
Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900
Henri Bergson
a influencé ✓
In ‘Philosophical Intuition’ (1911) Bergson took Spinoza as his example of a simple intuition behind a complex system, felt beneath the geometrical apparatus of the Ethics. H. Bergson, “L’intuition philosophique” (1911), in La Pensée et le mouvant (1934); SEP “Henri Bergson”
Henri Bergson › 1859–1941
Louis Althusser
a influencé ✓
Althusser drew on Spinoza for his concept of structural causality and said of himself and his circle ‘we were Spinozists’ (Elements of Self-Criticism, 1974). L. Althusser, Lire le Capital (1965); Éléments d’autocritique (1974); SEP “Louis Althusser”
Louis Althusser › 1918–1990
Tout afficher (20)Afficher moins
Johann Gottfried von Herder
a influencé ✓
In God: Some Conversations (1787) Herder defended Spinoza against Jacobi’s charge of atheism, reinterpreting his substance as the primal force active in all things. J. G. Herder, Gott. Einige Gespräche (1787); SEP “Johann Gottfried von Herder”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Johann Gottfried von Herder › 1744–1803
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher
a influencé
In On Religion (1799) Schleiermacher asked his readers to offer a lock of hair to the shade of ‘the holy, rejected Spinoza’, pervaded by the world-spirit. F. Schleiermacher, Über die Religion. Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verächtern (1799), Second Speech; SEP “Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher › 1768–1834
Friedrich Hölderlin
a influencé
In Tübingen Hölderlin made excerpts from Jacobi’s Letters on Spinoza (c. 1790–91), and ‘hen kai pan’, one and all, became a watchword he shared with Hegel. F. Hölderlin, excerpts from F. H. Jacobi, Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen (c. 1790–91); D. Henrich, Der Grund im Bewußtsein (1992)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Hölderlin › 1770–1843
Novalis
a influencé
Novalis called Spinoza ‘a God-intoxicated man’ and in his notebooks (1798–1800) engaged with Spinoza’s identity of God and nature. Novalis, Das allgemeine Brouillon (1798–99); Fragmente und Studien (1799–1800); SEP “Novalis”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Novalis › 1772–1801
Ludwig Feuerbach
a influencé ✓
In Principles of the Philosophy of the Future (1843) Feuerbach read Spinoza’s identification of God and nature as a step from theism towards materialism, likening him to Moses. L. Feuerbach, Grundsätze der Philosophie der Zukunft (1843); Geschichte der neuern Philosophie von Bacon von Verulam bis Benedict Spinoza (1833); SEP “Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Ludwig Feuerbach › 1804–1872
Miguel de Unamuno
a influencé
Unamuno built The Tragic Sense of Life (1913) on Spinoza’s conatus, the striving of each thing to persist in its being, read as the hunger for immortality. M. de Unamuno, Del sentimiento trágico de la vida (1913); B. de Spinoza, Ethica (1677), Part III; J. Marías, Miguel de Unamuno (1943)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Miguel de Unamuno › 1864–1936
Albert Einstein
a influencé ✓
Einstein said he believed in ‘Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists’, not in a God concerned with human fates and actions (1929). A. Einstein, cable to Rabbi H. Goldstein (24 Apr. 1929); “Religion und Wissenschaft” (1930); M. Jammer, Einstein and Religion (1999)
Albert Einstein › 1879–1955
Lev Vygotski
a influencé ✓
Vygotsky turned to Spinoza’s monism against Descartes’ dualism of passions to seek a unified theory of emotions (Učenie ob emocijach, written 1931–33, publ. 1984). L. S. Vygotsky, Učenie ob emocijach (written 1931–33; publ. 1984), Eng. “The Teaching about Emotions” (1999); R. van der Veer and J. Valsiner, Understanding Vygotsky (1991)
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Lev Vygotski › 1896–1934
Erich Fromm
a influencé ✓
Fromm took Spinoza’s Ethics as a model of humanistic ethics, in which virtue is the realisation of one’s own powers (Man for Himself, 1947). E. Fromm, Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics (1947); B. Spinoza, Ethica (1677)
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Erich Fromm › 1900–1980
Arne Næss
a influencé
Næss read Spinoza’s Ethics as a philosophy of active emotions and self-realisation and made it a main source of his ecosophy (Freedom, Emotion and Self-Subsistence, 1975; 1989). A. Næss, Freedom, Emotion and Self-Subsistence: The Structure of a Central Part of Spinoza’s Ethics (1975); Ecology, Community and Lifestyle (1989)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Arne Næss › 1912–2009
Gilles Deleuze
a influencé ✓
Deleuze read Spinoza as a philosopher of expression and immanence and asked with him what a body can do (Spinoza et le problème de l’expression, 1968). G. Deleuze, Spinoza et le problème de l’expression (1968); Spinoza. Philosophie pratique (1970; 1981); SEP “Gilles Deleuze”; SEP “Baruch Spinoza”
Gilles Deleuze › 1925–1995
Antonio Negri
a influencé ✓
In The Savage Anomaly (1981) Negri read Spinoza as the thinker of potentia, the constitutive power of the multitude, against potestas, the power of constituted order. A. Negri, L’anomalia selvaggia. Saggio su potere e potenza in Baruch Spinoza (1981)
Antonio Negri › 1933–2023
Hassan Hanafi
a influencé
Hanafi translated Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise into Arabic with a long introduction (1971), taking it as a model for historical criticism of sacred texts. H. Hanafi (tr.), Risala fi l-lahut wa-l-siyasa (1971)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Hassan Hanafi › 1935–2021
Viola Cordova
a influencé
In her dissertation The Concept of Monism in Navajo Thought (1992) Cordova compared the Navajo (Diné) concept of Holy Wind with Spinoza’s monism to interpret it. V. F. Cordova, The Concept of Monism in Navajo Thought (PhD diss., University of New Mexico, 1992); J. K. McNeley, Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy (1981)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Viola Cordova › 1937–2002
Critique
Critiques reçues de 7
Anne Conway
critiqué par
Conway charged that Spinoza confounds God and creatures in one substance, and distinguished three kinds of being: God, Christ and creatures (Principles, 1690, ch. 9). A. Conway, Principia philosophiae antiquissimae et recentissimae (1690), chs. 5–6, 9; SEP “Anne Conway”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Anne Conway › 1631–1679
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz a influencé
a influencé ✓
In 1676 Leibniz visited Spinoza in The Hague, showed him a proof that a most perfect being is possible and later annotated the posthumously printed Ethics (1677). G. W. Leibniz, Quod ens perfectissimum existit (The Hague, 1676); M. R. Antognazza, Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography (2009); SEP “Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz”
critiqué par
Leibniz rejected Spinoza’s blind necessity, which leaves God neither choice nor goodness (Theodicy, 1710, §173), adding that Spinoza would be right were there no monads. G. W. Leibniz, Essais de Théodicée (1710), §§173–174; letter to Bourguet, Dec. 1714 (GP III 575)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Pierre Bayle
critiqué par
Bayle called Spinoza’s single substance ‘the most absurd and monstrous hypothesis’: God would be both the Germans and the Turks killing each other (Dictionnaire, 1697, ‘Spinoza’). P. Bayle, Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697), art. “Spinoza”, remark N; SEP “Pierre Bayle”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Pierre Bayle › 1647–1706
John Toland
critiqué par
Toland argued in Letters to Serena (1704, Letter IV) that Spinoza’s system lacks a principle, since it fails to explain motion, which Toland held essential to matter. J. Toland, Letters to Serena (1704), Letters IV–V; S. H. Daniel, John Toland: His Methods, Manners, and Mind (1984)
Attestation: brouillon IA
John Toland › 1670–1722
Emmanuel Kant
critiqué par
Kant objected that Spinoza’s single substance turns the purposive unity of nature into mere inherence and cannot explain purposiveness (Critique of the Power of Judgment, 1790). I. Kant, Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790), §§ 72–73; Was heißt: sich im Denken orientieren? (1786)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Emmanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Moses Mendelssohn a influencé
a influencé ✓
In his Philosophical Dialogues (1755) Mendelssohn praised Spinoza as a forerunner of Leibniz, arguing that Leibniz had found pre-established harmony in his work. M. Mendelssohn, Philosophische Gespräche (1755); SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
critiqué par
In Morning Hours (1785) Mendelssohn rejected Spinoza’s pantheism but argued that a ‘purified pantheism’ differs from theism in no point that matters for religion and morals. M. Mendelssohn, Morgenstunden (1785), Lectures XIII–XIV; SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Moses Mendelssohn › 1729–1786
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi
critiqué par
Jacobi judged Spinozism the only consistent philosophy of demonstration and therefore fatalism and atheism (Letters on Spinoza, 1785; 2nd ed. 1789). F. H. Jacobi, Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn (1785; 2nd ed. 1789); SEP “Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi › 1743–1819
Critiques adressées à 2
Moïse Maïmonide influencé par
influencé par ✓
Spinoza knew Maimonides’ Guide closely; H. A. Wolfson (1934) traced much of the Ethics’ vocabulary of God and the intellect to it and other medieval Jewish sources. H. A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of Spinoza (1934); SEP “Baruch Spinoza”
a critiqué
Spinoza rejected Maimonides’ rule that Scripture must be read allegorically wherever it conflicts with reason, which bent the Bible to Aristotle (Theological-Political Treatise, 1670, ch. 7). B. Spinoza, Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670), ch. 7; Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed II.25; SEP “Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Moïse Maïmonide › 1138–1204
René Descartes influencé par
influencé par ✓
Spinoza’s first published book, Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (1663), set out Descartes’ Principles in geometrical order, with his Metaphysical Thoughts appended. B. Spinoza, Renati Des Cartes Principiorum philosophiae pars I et II, more geometrico demonstratae (1663), with Cogitata metaphysica; SEP “Baruch Spinoza”
a critiqué
Spinoza called Descartes’ account of the mind steering the body through the pineal gland ‘more occult than any occult quality’ (Ethics, 1677, V, Preface). B. Spinoza, Ethica (1677), V, Praefatio; II P48–49 (against free will); SEP “Baruch Spinoza”
Attestation: brouillon IA
René Descartes › 1596–1650
Œuvres
Critique historique de la Bible et plaidoyer pour la liberté de pensée.
- 1677Éthique
Définitions, axiomes, propositions : Dieu ou la Nature et le chemin vers la liberté.
Position
L’Éthique de Spinoza, construite comme un livre de géométrie, soutient qu’il n’existe qu’une seule substance : Dieu ou la Nature. L’esprit et la matière ne sont pas des choses séparées, mais deux attributs de cette unique réalité, et tout en découle avec nécessité – il n’y a pas de libre arbitre au sens habituel ni de finalité dans la nature. Tout être s’efforce de persévérer dans son être (conatus). Nous sommes non libres lorsque nous sommes menés par des passions que nous ne comprenons pas ; la liberté est la compréhension de la nécessité, et le bonheur suprême est l’amour intellectuel de Dieu. En politique, il défendit la liberté de pensée et la lecture historique de la Bible. Longtemps condamné comme athée, il inspira plus tard Goethe, l’idéalisme allemand et Einstein.
Vie et contexte
Né à Amsterdam en 1632 dans une famille de marchands juifs portugais, Spinoza fut exclu de la communauté juive en 1656 en raison de ses opinions. Il vécut modestement à Rijnsburg, à Voorburg et à La Haye, polissant des lentilles et correspondant avec les grands savants. Il déclina une chaire à Heidelberg pour garder son indépendance. Son Éthique ne fut publiée qu’après sa mort, en 1677.
Autres œuvres principales
- Principes de la philosophie de Descartes (1663)
- Traité de la réforme de l’entendement (1677)
- Traité politique (1677)
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