Baruch Spinoza

Baruch de de Spinoza was born in Amsterdam and was abandoned a Jewish traditional upbringing. He was educated at the groups academy w present he received all the necessary development in regard to the perceptions of the Jewish company at that time. Most of the t to each oneings in the academy by then constituted of spiritual education, prophetic belles-lettres and commentaries in rabbinical.His excellence in this ara however did not divide him a reason to seek higher studies notwithstanding rather left(a) school to ferment in his family business. History has it that it was his curious and critical temper that afterward brought forth a conflict between him and the Jewish community.With the wipe emerge of his father during the England and the France war, his mformer(a) having died earlier, he embarked on philosophy and optics and it is believed that eventually the stimulate of his death was a result of glass dust inhaled while assist to his optic trade (Richard, 1999, 5 2). The Jewish community in which he was brought up together with the businesses that he conducted gave him the opportunity of interacting with many and more diverse public opinions than those he had been accustomed to while in school and also in the family life.Important here is the contact he made with the uncaring thinking Protestants who gave him an interest in a wide variety of theological thinking and current developments in science and philosophy. It was as history has it by dint of colleges that were unionised by these free thinkers that he was exposed to what grass be referred to as Cartesian perspective as well as the desire to film and chthonianstand his own traditions. His desire to learn his traditions led him to start writing for philosophic figures such as Gersonides and later to expand his intellect in which case he want the keeping of Franciscus Enden who was an Ex-Jesuit.His omnibus turned out to be nearly helpful to Spinoza as he had interest in man y fields such as medicine which kept him seeking for all the latest developments in sciences. According to history, Franciscus was also well know to have an irreligious cut down of melodic theme and a passion in advocating for political ideas that reflected body politic for all. In essence, the knowledge that Spinoza attained from Enden gave him a diverse view of the troupe and largely contributed to his take ins in philosophy.In addition, the happy orientation that he acquired from his enlighten led to an increase in his unorthodox views and reluctance in notice the laws of the community a amour that eventually threatened to strain his descent with the Jewish community. In the year 1656, tensions with the elders of the community had grown to an extent that they want to excommunicate him accusing him of abominable heresies and giveing to him a series of curses (Richard, 1999, 47). The excommunication disposed(p) to him also prohibited him from communicating with others in the community.It also prohibited the community members from participating in business with him, coming into close proximity with him under all circumstances or studying anything written by him. This rendered him to be an outcast in the community despite the fact that he was by birth a Jew. All this events did not hinder his association with his tutor as opposed to his business. In contrast, he continued with his studies and even took sundry(a) trips to the university to study the Cartesian philosophy.He was later to settle in Leiden in the comparable period and also embarked on his literary career. His first subject field is preserve in Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect. In this work he attempted to exsert a method that would allow the mind to form philosophical ideas that are unequivocal and clear and which would allow for perfection. The work also contained an extended treatment of definition, an analysis of the causes and nature of doubt and a reflection on t he various forms of knowledge.This work was however left unfinished and was later followed by the compendious Treatise on beau ideal, Man and His Well Being and it was this work that reflected his interest in ethics. Though much of his work was based on the ideas of Descartes, Spinoza neer acknowledged all the conclusions of him largely because he did not wish to be seen as a Cartesian. In his later work and with the help of the nonrepresentational method used by Descartes in philosophy, he sought to to the full integrate geometric methods in presenting his own thoughts. This method forms the basis of most of his works thereafter the year 1665.By then, his work which was later to be cognise as morals was being circulated amongst and by his friends back at cornerstone despite the fact that is was notwithstanding inform of a draft. In this context, the religious and political environment of that time did not allow him to eke out the ethical motive but rather he sought to emb ark on other works which would prepare the audience for the ethics. Later in his work known as the Theological- Political Treatise, he sought to argue the exemption of thought enhanced the security and the stability of the society rather than undermining it in the massive run.It was in this work that Spinoza sought to demonstrate that the threat to the freedom of thought came largely from the clergy accusing the later of using the superstitions and fears of the people in an effort to maintain power. He thus argued that the sovereign should exercise the empowerment of ruling the people as opposed to the clergy and that it was the sovereign that was supposed to extend liberty to the people, giving them the right to adhere to the minimal creed that was so-so(p) in regard to the various sects and their meanings in the lives of the people.This was largely aimed at enabling the philosophers of the time to exercise their freedoms free from any constraints from sectarianism. This work ignited a lot of criticism from the opponents of philosophical ideas and the authorities who accused Spinoza of having wrong intentions while writing it. Some of his friends were also uncomfortable with his latest work and together with the other opponents accused Spinoza of atheism a thing that he greatly resented himself. In the end, he was forced to move out to Hague where he spent all the rest of his life.His exile life did not hinder him from undertaking except literary productions but rather he pressed on though none of his work thereon was to be make until after his death. Even after his death, his work now published in Holland experienced a lot of criticism and at well-nigh point was abolished in the country. Perhaps it would be right to say that it was Ethics that saw the popularity and the expertise of Spinoza grow in the field of philosophy. The Ethics was encompassed in five books with the first concentrating on God and the meaning of fondness.The snatch of these books deals largely on the knowledge and the mind whereas the third, fourth and the fifth books deals in general with ethical discussions including the enslavement of the mercifulness by their emotions, the military man freedom and passion. In this regard, his work on the treatise dealt mostly on the human freedom actualisation through with(predicate) the analysis of passion and knowledge and the conflict between the two. To him and unadorned in many of his works, any knowledge theory, psychology of the nature of the gentleman and any metaphysics could be compared to an ethic that sought to explain the purpose of human life (Jonathan, 1999, 89).In Ethics, Spinoza makes the use of a basic presumption which can be seen as rational and which states that to the intellect, the nature of the world is transparent in the sense that the dependence amongst the states and events in nature can be seen as reflections of the dependence amongst the various ideas held by the human. His ar gument was that each and everything existing in nature or the universe in other words represents unaccompanied one earthly concern or what can be referred to as core and that the rules governing the pragmatism surrounding the human life and which he is a part of as a whole are encompassed in only one set.He viewed nature and God as representing only one reality or content and that it is this substance that forms the basis of the universe (Francks, 2003, 99) Spinoza further argued that all entities in this substance are only modifications and that it is nature itself that witness the existence of all other things and their causality to other things. In this regard, he asserts that for one to understand the complex chain of causes and effects one mustiness first strive to understand the various parts that constitute it as a whole.In arguing for a single substance he says the substance is not dependent on anything else for its existence and that it is impossible for two substanc es to parcel out the same attributes or nature. He argued that since substance can be conceived as being self dependent, then God can simply be seen as the only necessary being who despite this, is not distinct from the world. In this context, he sees God as the only existing substance with all other substances owing their existence to Him.On the other hand, God is indispensable to the world and any existing individual things are as a result of modifications done by Him (Thomas, 1999, 58). In the same work, he extends his monism to the mind and matter arguing that each of them represented a characteristic of appreciating an sodding(a) reality that was the same. He asserts that the universal substance consists of mind and consistency with no difference between the two. This argument was later to form a hearty solution to the problem of mind and body commonly referred to as immaterial monism.He argued that the disclosure of the very essential nature of things could be attributed to intellect as opposed to senses. To him, an adequate and complete idea in regard to God reveals two attributes about Him. In this context, God can be conceived through thinking or through extension. As opposed to other philosophical and theological works that gives God the aspect of infinity, the methods explained by Spinoza explains that each of the above named ways of conceiving God helps in disclosing the attributes of his presence (Cohn-Sherbok, 1997, 68).According to him, populace should reach to increase their knowledge about God or the one reality and this can be done by discovering ways in which He or it in case of the reality constitutes a reality that is complete and self sufficiently unified and in which all the happenings that take smear are necessary. He further argues that thinking forms a consciousness of the body and that the same mode should be conceived both under the attributes of thought and extension. In this regard, the body and the mind are seen as casua lly unrelated but rather as parallel expressions of only one reality.He argues further that in the establishment thought as dominated by God, misunderstanding and venomous requires explanations and in this context, he identify each with privation. In essence, he defines error as the lack of sufficient ideas and evils as the absence that express no essence. Spinoza in his work also sought to show that human senses abides modifications of the body as opposed to knowledge and that it is only through comprehend them as true that we can be able to understand them (Samuelson, 1998, 48).Further, Spinoza seeks to explain human freedom or free will through the concept of time in which he contends that freedom encompasses the capacity of the humans to conceive the world in terms of eternity and free from the thrall of desires and emotions. He argues the free will result from the realization by the humans of their appetites on one hand and their failure to understand and conceptualize th e reasons cornerstone their needs and actions.Emotions and desires to Spinoza are just results of the ignorance of those causes that determine the human quicken (Cohn-Sherbok, 1997, 57). Further more, he argues that adequate cognition results into agency and activity. For one accordingly to acquire adequacy, he first have to understand his emotions. In this context, he attempted to provide a geometry for emotions to demonstrate that humans are mostly driven by the unknown only to improve and gain tame over them once they understand their motivations.In conclusion, he argues that religion, science and philosophy consists an intellectual love for God thus are identical (Schwartz, 2002, 105). In his writings on politics, Spinoza borrows much from the experience he gained from the political system of the time which he used as a basis for his theory on government. He argued that it was the business of the state to avoid putting limits on the exercise of reasons by humans but rather i t should attempt to provide the necessary conditions in which reason and its exercise can flourish.Thus to him, constitutional democracy is a necessary and sufficient condition for the provision of a meeting place of freedom of opinion and reason within the law framework. In essence, he shares the guesss of Hobbes in regard to the social contract in his political writings. This assumption can be states that a contract is only binding if it is for the expediency of one and that right is derived from power. The basis of his political power is mostly organized around the notion of freedom more so the freedom of head (Julian, 2006, 121).Spinozas works has been greatly translated all over the world in the modern times and he is considered to be one of the most prestigious figures in philosophy. In addition, his works have influenced other fields besides philosophy such as the field of science and literature. The outstanding influence of his works however remains in philosophy with m odern philosophers adopting them in teaching and in formulating their own works. Despite the earlier ban of his work in Holland shortly after his death and publication of most of it, his work has greatly being adapted in many areas today.In his works, he sought to explain and bring into the light many concepts which he believed would help in understanding the substance concept and the concept of human freedom on the other hand. Though borrowing much from the works of the earlier philosophers notably Descartes and Hobbes, he always retained his position in making or reaching conclusions. At times he rejected their conclusions and offered his own inform the reader that those conclusions were not necessarily right.Benedict de Spinoza died in a rented elbow room in Hague where he had gone to spend the rest of his life after conflicts with the authorities in Holland and it is believed that he died of a respiratory problem caused by the glass dust inhaled during his optic grinding (Fran cks, 2003, 98). Work Cited Cohn-Sherbok Dan. Fifty expose Jewish Thinkers. London, Routledge, 1997, pp. 57, 68 Francks Richard. Modern Philosophy The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London, Routledge, 2003, pp. 98, 99 Jonathan Israel. Dutch Jewry Its History and Secular Culture (1500-2000). London, Brill, 2002, pp. 89Julian Wolfreys. Modern Criticism and theory A Critical Guide. sassy York, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, pp. 121 Richard H. The capital of South Carolina History of Western Philosophy. Columbia, Columbia University Press, 1999, pp. 47, 52 Samuelson Norbert. An Introduction to Modern Jewish Philosophy. New York, State University of New York Press, 1998, pp. 48 Schwartz Dov. Faith at the Crossroads A Theological visibleness of Religious Zionism. London, Brill, 2002, pp. 105 Thomas Edmund. Writers and Philosophers A Sourcebook of Philosophical Influences on Literature. London, Greenwood Press, 1999, p