Spinoza Past and Present: Essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza Scholarship

271 Pages·2012·2.138 MB·English

by  Wiep van Bunge

Spinoza Past and Present
Brill’s Studies in
Intellectual History
General Editor
Han van Ruler, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Founded by
Arjo Vanderjagt
Editorial Board
C.S. Celenza, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
M. Colish, Yale University
J.I. Israel, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
M. Mugnai, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
W. Otten, University of Chicago
VOLUME 215
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/bsih
Spinoza Past and Present
Essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza Scholarship
By
Wiep van Bunge
LEIdEN • BOStON
2012
Cover illustration: Statue of Spinoza made by Frédéric Hexamer (1847–1924). the statue is located
near the philosopher’s home in the Hague at the Paviljoensgracht and was unveiled in 1880. With
kind permission of Roel Wijnants.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Bunge, Wiep van.
 Spinoza past and present : essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza scholarship / by Wiep van
Bunge.
  pages cm — (Brill’s studies in intellectual history ; v. 215)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-23137-5 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN (invalid) 978-90-04-23352-2 (e-book)
1. Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632–1677. I. title.
 B3998.B87 2012
 199’.492—dc23
2012021710
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ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 978 90 04 23137 5 (hardback)
ISBN 978 90 04 23352 2 (e-book)
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CONtENtS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... ix
Preface  ................................................................................................................ xiii
Chapter One. Baruch or Benedict? Spinoza as a ‘Marrano’  ............. 1
1. ‘Marranos’  ............................................................................................... 1
2. Spinoza and Other Heretics  ................................................................ 5
3. La Synagogue vide  ................................................................................ 10
4. La Judéité de Spinoza  ........................................................................... 13
Chapter two. the Autonomy of the Attributes  ................................... 17
1. de Vries’ Question  ................................................................................ 17
2. Wolfson to Macherey  .......................................................................... 20
3. Early Criticism: Van Velthuysen to Bayle  ..................................... 26
4. Spinoza and dutch Spinozism  ......................................................... 31
Chapter three. the Idea of a Scientific Moral Philosophy  ............... 35
1. Practical Purposes  ................................................................................ 35
2. Mathematical Certainty  ...................................................................... 36
3. Form, Content, Method, Exposition  ............................................... 40
4. Geulincx and Spinoza  ......................................................................... 44
5. Locke and Spinoza  ............................................................................... 46
6. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 48
Chapter Four. Spinoza and the Collegiants  ........................................... 51
1. Rijnsburger Collegiants  ....................................................................... 52
2. Plockhoy, Van den Enden, and the Brothers Koerbagh  ........... 56
3. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 63
Chapter Five. the Idea of Religious Imposture  .................................... 67
1. Machiavelli to the Symbolum sapientiae  ....................................... 67
2. Spinoza on Moses and Christ  ........................................................... 72
3. the Symbolum sapientiae to Lessing  .............................................. 80
4. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 83
vi contents
Chapter Six. the Politics of the Passions  ............................................... 87
1. Caute: Spinoza as a ‘Political Philosopher’  ................................... 88
2. the Politics of the Passions  ............................................................... 91
3. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 96
Chapter Seven. Causation and Intelligibility in the
Tractatus Theologico-Politicus  ................................................................ 101
1. Causation and Intelligibility: Spinoza’s Rationalism  ................. 101
2. Prophetic Imagination  ........................................................................ 104
3. Origins of Scripture  .............................................................................. 108
4. Salvation by Obedience  ...................................................................... 110
5. Conclusion: Christ  ................................................................................ 113
Chapter Eight. Vondel’s Noah on God and Nature  ............................. 119
1. Noah or the downfall of the First World  ...................................... 120
2. theologians and Philosophers on the Origins of Evil  ............... 122
3. Noah: God and Nature  ........................................................................ 125
4. Vondel versus the Radical Enlightenment  ................................... 131
5. Noah: Conclusion  ................................................................................. 135
Chapter Nine. Censorship of Philosophy in the Seventeenth-
Century dutch Republic  .......................................................................... 137
1. the Politics of Censorship  ................................................................. 137
2. types of Censorship  ............................................................................ 140
3. Philosophy  .............................................................................................. 145
4. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 151
Chapter ten. Nineteenth and twentieth-Century
dutch Spinozism  ........................................................................................ 157
1. Johannes van Vloten  ............................................................................ 157
2. Low Ebb  ................................................................................................... 169
3. the Return of Spinoza  ........................................................................ 173
4. Hubbeling, de dijn, Klever  ............................................................... 175
5. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 186
Chapter Eleven. Radical Enlightenment: A dutch Perspective  ....... 189
1. the dutch Enlightenment debate: Fortuyn, Van Gogh,
and Hirsi Ali  ........................................................................................... 189
2. Radical Enlightenment  ....................................................................... 193
contents vii
3. Spinoza’s ‘Circle’  ................................................................................... 195
4. Spinoza on Religion  ............................................................................. 198
5. the Spread of a Movemevent  ........................................................... 203
6. Conclusion  .............................................................................................. 208
Chapter twelve. Spinoza Past and Present  ........................................... 211
1. the Works ............................................................................................... 214
2. the Man  .................................................................................................. 217
3. Spinoza today  ....................................................................................... 221
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 225
Index  ................................................................................................................... 253

ACKNOWLEdGMENtS
Chapter One is based on ‘Baruch of Benedictus? Spinoza en de “mar-
ranen” ’, Mededelingen 81 vanwege Het Spinozahuis (delft: Eburon, 2001).
Chapter two is based on ‘Spinoza en zijn critici over de autonomie van het
attribuut’, Mededelingen 72 vanwege Het Spinozahuis (delft: Eburon, 1995).
Chapter three is almost identical to ‘Spinoza and the Idea of a Scientific
Moral Philosophy’, in: Michael Hampe and Robert Schnepf (eds.), Spino-
za’s Ethics. A Collective Commentary (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2011), 307–323.
(Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 196)
Chapter Four is based on ‘ “dat we alle even hoog of gelijk staan”: zeven-
tiende-eeuwse collegianten over “evengelijkheyd” ’, Maria Grever, Ido de
Haan, dienke Hondius, and Susan Legêne (eds.), Grenzeloze gelijkheid.
Historische vertogen over cultuurverschil (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2011),
27–42, 316–322 and ‘Spinoza and the Collegiants’, Philosophia Osaka 7
(2012), 13–29.
Chapter Five was first published as ‘Spinoza and the Idea of Religious
Imposture’, in: toon van Houdt, Jan L. de Jonge, Zoran Kwak, Marijke
Spies, and Marc van Vaeck (eds.), On the Edge of Truth and Honesty.
Principles and Strategies of Fraud and Deceit in the Early Modern Period
(Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2002), 105–126. (Intersections 2. Yearbook for Early
Modern Studies.)
Chapter Six was first published as ‘Spinoza on the Politics of the Passions’,
Cultural and Social History. The Journal of the Social History Society 2 (2005),
99–111.
Chapter Seven is based on ‘Spinoza on Religious truths’, Iris. Annales de
philosophie 30 (2009), 1–15 and ‘Spinoza over de waarheid van de gods-
dienst. Causaliteit en intelligibiliteit in de Tractatus theologico-politicus’,
Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 74 (2012), 241–267.
Chapter Eight was first published as ‘Censorship of Philosophy in the
Seventeenth-Century dutch Republic’, in: Mogens Laerke (ed.), The Use