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Dutch philosopher. Later renamed Benedictus Spinoza, an important European rationalist in the history of modern Western philosophy, as famous as Descartes in France and Leibniz in Germany.

Aesthetic Soul

"It is difficult to die for the truth, but even more difficult to live for the truth." The famous German philosophy historian Wendelband said when commemorating the 200th anniversary of Spinoza's death . The core and destination of Spinoza's aesthetic thought is "the perfect state of life", which is the pursuit of life that integrates truth, goodness and beauty.

Aesthetic Essence

“Spinoza, the seventeenth-century Dutch materialist philosopher, for the first time in history clearly stated that beauty is subjective.” "Contemporary Western Aesthetics" by Zhu Di. Spinoza understood that the essence of subjective empiric aesthetics is that human beings always appreciate beauty from their own perspective, which leads to the uncertainty of beauty. Therefore, the essence of its aesthetics is to fully deny the view that beauty is subjective.

Core of Aesthetics

The core content of Spinoza’s aesthetic ontology is that beauty lies in the whole. If you cannot stand at the height you deserve, you will not be able to glimpse the ocean of beauty and enjoy true aesthetic pleasure. Spinoza believed that aesthetics consistent with the whole of nature could be achieved through rational intuition.

Aesthetic characteristics

Because Spinoza studied philosophy from the perspective of geometry, he brought its rigor, accuracy, and necessity into aesthetics, giving his aesthetics a typical rational beauty. It has a quiet, grand and solemn nature.

Personal life

Birth

Baruch Spinoza (November 24, 1632 - February 21, 1677) was born in Amsterdam of a Jewish merchant family who fled Spain to the Netherlands. His parents made a living by operating import and export trade and lived a relatively comfortable life. Therefore, Spinoza was able to enter the local Jewish theological school and study Hebrew, Talmud, and medieval Jewish philosophy. He was also trained in Latin, which gave Spinoza access to the works of Descartes and others.

Academic

He gradually departed from the scope of so-called orthodox doctrine and was excommunicated in 1656 for opposing Jewish teachings. He eventually moved out of the Jewish ghetto and made a living grinding lenses while engaging in philosophical thinking. Moving to The Hague in 1670, Spinoza lived a secluded life ever since. In 1673, he was offered a professorship in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg on the condition that he would not raise any questions about the country's legal religion, but Spinoza flatly refused. Due to a long period of irregular eating and malnutrition, his health deteriorated year by year. In 1677, after a fierce battle with the disease, he collapsed, finally on the verge of 45 years old.

Philosophical Thought

Monism

Materialist World View

Principles of Philosophy

Spinoza and Descartes Likewise, they adhere to rationalism in methodology and respect geometric methods. His main works "Descartes' Principles of Philosophy" and "Ethics" were written in the style of writing geometry books. He believed that only knowledge deduced from the first few "self-evident definitions and axioms by rational ability, like geometry, is reliable knowledge." He firmly believed that: "Any concept deduced from the correct concept in the mind is also correct." Therefore, he advocated that based on true concepts, other scientific knowledge can be deduced by using geometric methods. However, Spinoza developed Descartes' geometric method from a materialist perspective. First of all, he believes: "Real reason, whether it is limited or infinite, should only understand the attributes of God and the special state of God, and cannot understand other things." In Spinoza's view, the object of knowledge is The fundamental task of understanding the objectively existing nature is to study the ways that can "guide people to achieve true knowledge of things." Secondly, he clearly affirmed: "The order and connection of ideas are the same as the order and connection of things." He believed that natural things and natural laws can be known, and people can gain knowledge of the truth of nature. He said: "People have the ability to understand many things. If their body can adapt to more aspects, this ability will be greater." Finally, he admitted: "The true concept must conform to its object.

” In short, in terms of epistemology, Spinoza and Descartes are of the same origin.

Spinoza’s Ethics

Ethics is the purpose of Spinoza’s philosophy. End. He believes that the purpose of philosophy is to seek the highest good and the highest happiness of people. He said: "I aim to make all science focus on one purpose or one ideal, which is to achieve...the highest perfection of life." Therefore, anything in the various sciences that cannot promote the realization of our purpose will be dismissed as useless; in other words, all our actions and thoughts must be focused on realizing this sole purpose." His ethics is based on assets As a starting point, the theory of class human nature emphasizes that "self-preservation" is the driving force for all people's actions and the standard for people to judge good and evil. He said: "The so-called good or evil refers to things that are beneficial or hindering our existence. ...Anything that makes us happy or miserable, we call that thing good or evil. "His ethics are utilitarian and he believes: "The harder a person works and the more he is able to seek his own interests or maintain his own existence, the more virtuous he will be; conversely, as long as a person ignores his own interests Or neglect the maintenance of his own existence, then he is really weak and incompetent. "However, Spinoza believed that human beings are a relatively complex form. Human beings include body and mind. The mind has emotions. If people's emotions are controlled by the outside world, then their understanding of the outside world will be incorrect. . On the contrary, if people's emotions are controlled by reason, then people's understanding of the outside world is certain and correct. So he said: "The so-called good refers to what we know is useful to us." "Evil is that which we know for sure prevents us from possessing any good." "It can be seen that what Spinoza advocated was the utilitarian ethical theory guided by the principle of rationality.

Influence

In the period after Spinoza's death, he His works continued to be condemned by different religious sects, but were not taken seriously by philosophers and progressive thinkers. By the end of the 17th century, French P. Belle affirmed Spinoza's philosophy in the famous "Dictionary of Historical Criticism". It is an atheistic system. After that, Spinoza's philosophy gradually gained attention. At the same time, his materialism was inherited by French materialists. I have reservations about it. 〖HTK〗 D. Diderot, in Volume 15 of the Encyclopedia, once called French materialism "the new Spinozaism" in Germany from the late 18th to the early 19th century. During the Enlightenment Movement, Spinoza's philosophy gained people's attention only after the efforts of G.E. Lessing (1729-1781), J.G. Herder (1744-1803), J.W. von Goethe and others. His pantheism It also deeply influenced German Enlightenment thinkers. Herder once publicly declared that he was a Spinozaist. Spinoza's philosophy also greatly inspired German classical philosophy. 〖HTK〗 Both HTK and F.W.J. Schelling regard it as the starting point of their philosophy. His entity is an important factor in HTK and G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical system. L. Feuerbach once called it " "Spinoza is the Moses of modern atheists and materialists." Marx attached great importance to Spinoza's materialist philosophy, calling his insistence on explaining the world from the world itself the highest honor of modern philosophy, and regarded him as 17 One of the outstanding representatives of dialectics in the 19th century

Main works

The greatest of Spinoza's works is "Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata" (Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata, referred to as "Ethics"). "Philosophy"), which was not published until after Spinoza's death. The book was written in the geometric manner of Euclid, and at the beginning it gave a set of axioms and various formulas from which propositions were generated. , proofs, inferences, and explanations. His other important works include Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Tracta Atus Politicus', Principles of Philosophy, Intellectual Improvement, and Theology , A Brief Essay on Man and His Happiness" (etc.

The themes of "Tractatus Theologiae" are biblical criticism and political theory, while the latter only talks about political theory

Commemorative article

Giant of Western Thought

Attachment: "Giant of Western Thought (1): Spinoza" Note: Excerpted from "A Brief History of Philosophy" (China Friendship Publishing Company) Chapter 4 Spinoza Section 1 Historical Background and Life Author: [US] Will· Durant Translation: When Liang Chun commemorated the bicentenary of his death, people began to raise funds to build a full-length statue of him. Donations came from educated people from all over the world. Never has a monument been built on such a broad base of love! After the Spanish Moors were captured by Ferdinand in 1492, they left Grenada and left the Iberian Peninsula. Spain implemented a policy of expelling pagans, and the Jews in Spain began a great migration since the destruction of the Temple. These people found a home in the tolerant Netherlands. One of these people came from a Portuguese family whose name was E. Spinoza. In 1598, Jews built the first synagogue in Amsterdam. 75 years later, they built the most magnificent church in Europe. Their Christian neighbors were still helping them. Uriel A. Costa, a passionate young man, influenced by the skepticism of the Renaissance, wrote a paper violently attacking the belief in an afterlife. This did not necessarily violate ancient Jewish teachings, but the Jewish church forced him to deny his views in public so as not to offend the local Christian church. The way to repent was to ask the proud young man to lie down at the door of the synagogue and let the assembled congregation step over him in turn. Uriel returned home, wrote a suicide note condemning his persecutors, and then committed suicide. This happened in 1640, when Baruch Spinoza—"the greatest Jew" and the greatest philosopher of modern times—was still an eight-year-old child and a prominent member of the Jewish congregation. A beloved student. Baruch Spinoza's father was a well-run businessman, but Baruch Spinoza liked to spend his time in the synagogue, learning about the religion and history of his nation. The elders agreed that he was the new Judge: the Messiah! He was impressed by Moses' idea that God and the universe were one, and Crescas also believed that the physical universe was the form of God. Averroes believed that eternity was impersonal. The more Spinoza read and thought, the more his simple certainty turned into more and more doubts. His curiosity led him to read Christian thinkers about God and human destiny. He began studying Latin with a Dutch scholar named van den Ende. His new teacher had a beautiful daughter, and he stole Spinoza's affection from Latin; under the temptation of such a beautiful woman, today's college students will not bother to study Latin. But this young lady loves money more than love. She lost interest in Spinoza when another suitor arrived bearing expensive gifts. There is no doubt that Spinoza became a philosopher at that moment.

Celebrity Comments

It is not easy to achieve Spinoza’s philosophical achievements, and it is impossible to achieve Spinoza’s personality. ——Hegel

Famous quote

Spinoza said: "A free man rarely thinks of death; his wisdom is not the meditation of death, but the contemplation of life." ”