B A R U C H S P I N O Z A
Have you ever stopped to think of yourself and your own life as part of a larger ‘cosmic’
context? Do you believe in the idea that we are a tiny part in the immense context of
nature? Broadly speaking, these concepts were somewhat discussed by the 17th century
philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
His Background
Spinoza (1632-1677) was born in Amsterdam, in
Jewish immigrants family who came from Spain
and Portugal. He followed the teachings of the
Jewish community of Amsterdam but, at the age of
24, was expelled from the synagogue and his
community for being heterodox – he was highly
critical of the official religion.
Determinism and Pantheism
He held a relativist position, that nothing is
intrinsically good or bad, except that it is
perceived that way by each individual. Instead, as
a determinist, he believed that ‘all things in nature
are the result of a certain necessity.’ Nothing
happens by chance, but necessarily, due to the
essential nature or substance of things, in other
words, God. He said that everything that exists in
nature is: God/Nature/Substance. God is in
everything that exists and everything that exists is
in God. Because of this, Spinoza is described as a
pantheist.
Freedom from the Passions
Spinoza’s ethics is one of liberation. He said that
the mind is able to liberate itself from the hold that
the passions (inadequate ideas) have over it, as it
acquires knowledge (adequate ideas). Therefore,
liberation lies in the acquisition of knowledge. We
should liberate ourselves from our passions
(desire, pleasure, pain, the main three) which
prevent us from achieving happiness and harmony.
We are free when we act rationally; we are slaves
of our passions when we cannot control our
emotions or act irrationally.
The Guidance of Reason
He expressed that man has a natural inclination
for ‘the preservation of essential being,’ which can
be achieved by the guidance of reason. Spinoza
thus belongs to the rationalist tradition. So much
so that he wrote an ‘Ethics demonstrated in
geometrical order.’ Here he maintained that ethics
can be based in axioms and propositions that
follow each other with logical necessity. He wanted
to show how man’s life is conditioned by the laws
of nature, the rational system of the universe
which is the expression of the only substance,
God.
Knowledge of God as the Highest God Reason
strives only for adequate ideas and understanding.
The greatest good or virtue that the mind can
conceive is God, that infinite and eternal
substance. Knowledge of God is the fulfilment of
the mind’s striving to persevere in being.
According to Spinoza, if we acknowledge that
everything happens out of necessity, we can
intuitively understand nature as it is. Taking a
‘panoramic view’, we can see the context of all
things as a huge One. As a consequence, we will
be able to reach ultimate happiness and harmony
of spirit.
Love God intellectually
Most people would not find a connection between
God and our minds. However, Spinoza claimed
that when a human being possess perception of
God’s essence, we acquire what he called
“knowledge of the third kind” Thus, in attaining
this kind of knowledge the mind passes to its
highest state of perfection that’s available and as
the mind understands God to be the cause of it, it
develops an active love to which Spinoza refers to
as The Intellectual Love of God.
Eternal minds
“The human mind cannot be absolutely
destroyed with the body, but something of it
remains which is eternal...”
Life after death is a controversial topic. Some
people believe there’s nothing after our life on
earth and some others believe real life starts once
our steps on earth come to an end.
Benedict Spinoza made a distinction between two
aspects of the mind: one which expresses the
existence of the body and another which
expresses the essence of the body. He proclaimed
the aspect of the mind which represents the
existence of the body has a limited duration but
not the aspect which represents the essence of the
body as he thought the latter remain unaffected
by the destruction of the body. He believed that
human minds as eternal.

By Rodrigo Rouco & Silvia Kestanian (2007)

By Romina Melmenstain & Miriam Rodriguez (2008)