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Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect EDITORIAL PREFACE THE Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (TdlE), a short, difficult, but fascinating discourse on method, was first published in Spinoza's Opera posthuma in 1677. But as the editors of that collection tell us in their preface, both its style and its content show it to be one of Spi- noza's earliest works. If the reference in Letter 6 to a "whole short work" (integrum opusculum) is indeed to this treatise, as scholars have generally assumed,t then a draft of it must have existed at least by early in 1662, and quite likely Spinoza wrote it before that." Various forward references in Spinoza's notes to this treatise indi- cate that at some stage of his work on it Spinoza conceived it as intro- ductory to another work, to be called (perhaps) Philosophy, a work which would have discussed in a systematic way topics in philosoph- ical theology (11129, n. z), philosophy of mind (II115, n. o), epistemol- ogy (II114, nn. k and I), ethics (II/6, n. a; II17, n. b; II/8, n. c), and perhaps much else (of. II19, n. d). Some of the references suggest a work more like the Short Treatise than the Ethics,3 and Gebhardt argued that the "short work" referred to in Letter 6 was a two-part work, with the TdlE as a methodological prolegomenon to the more system- atic KV. According to Gebhardt (I1407), the Latin original of the KV was already in existence when Spinoza began writing the "Idle around the time of Letter 6. But if what I have suggested above is correct (see n. 2), then Gebhardt must be wrong at least about the date of com- position of the TdlE. Mignini would argue that Gebhardt is wrong also in thinking that the TdIE ~i, as an integral part of the short work Spinoza describes his opusculum as being devoted to the question "how things began to be and by what connection they depend on the first cause ... and also on the emendation of the intellect." This strongly suggests that our "IdlE was part of the opusculum. But Mignini has cast doubt on this. See the annotation at IV/36/13. z I would be inclined to say earlier than Letter 2 at least, i.e., before September 1661, for reasons suggested in the annotation at 11/9112. Cf. Mignini 2, 106. If, as Mignini thinks, the TdiE is earlier than the KV, and if, as he also thinks, the first draft of the KV was written around the middle of 1660 (see Mignini !, 239), then the TdlE would have been written a good deal earlier than the spring of 1662. ' Notably 11129, n. z. On the other hand, some of the things promised in the forward references do not appear in our version of the KV any more than ~ey do in E, e.g., the extended discussion of wealth foreshadowed in II/6, n. a. EA RLIEST WORKS Spinoza refers to in Letter 6. Emphasizing the incompleteness of our text of the TdIE, he contends that it could not have been correctly described in Letter 6 as having been composed and that it is earlier than the KV, not merely in date of composition, but also in the stage of the development of Spinoza's thought that it represents.4 If Mignini's arguments for the priority of the TdIE are not conclusive, he has, I think, at least established that there is no reason to regard the KV as the earlier work.s So at this stage the position would seem to be that, if the TdlE is not in fact earlier that the KV, it was probably written at about the same time as the KV and as an introduction to it. In its importance for the study of the development of Spinoza's thought, the Treatise on the Intellect invites comparison with Descartes' Regulae. Both are early, unfinished works that show the direction of their author's thought at a formative stage, that indicate the problems concerning him and the solutions he was inclined toward. Both discuss certain important themes more fully than does any work their author later published. But both works also need to be read with the conseiousness that the lines of thought presented in them may not have proved ultimately to be satisfactory to the author. For example, some have argued that in this treatise Spinoza has not fully emancipated himself from Descartes on the distinction between will and intellect,+ and it seems clear that he does tend to confuse mind and intellect.7 1 would argue that the discussion of the four kinds of knowledge is not clearly thought out.s And Joachim has suggested that ' Mignini contends that the teaching of the KV is closer to that of E than is the teaching of the TdlE in regard to the following topics: the nature of the intellect and the doctrine of method, the theory of the kinds of knowlodge, the nature of fictions, the will, final causation and perfection. "['his is not the place for a discussion of his arguments, but I will observe that my own attempt to study the development of Spinoza's thought about truth (Curley 9), an attempt made before I was aware of Mignini's work, would have proceeded more smoothly had I adopted his chronology. s This, essentially, is the judgment of M. Matheron, in a recent review of Mignini's work (Bulletin de I'Astociation des Amis de Spinoza, no. 10, 1983): "Si les arguments positifs avanc~s par Mignini, bien qu'ils donnent beaucoup ~ penser, ne sont peut-être tout ~ fair convaincants (personellement j'avoue hésiter encore sur ce point), ses arguments néga. tifs, en revanche, sont décisifs: nous admettions tous comme allant de sol, parce qu'on nous I'avait enseign~, que le C.T.[i.e., KV] &ait ant~rieur au TRE [i.e., Tdl~l, et Mignini démontre qu'il n'y avait t cela a~olument aucune raison!" + See Joachim 2, 59, and cf. Mignini 2, 140. Joachim construes this as a survival of Cartesian doctrines advocated in the KV. Mignini, it seems, regards it as evidence of the priority of the TdlE to the KV. I myself am not satisfied with the evidence that Spinoza adopts the ('artesian distinction between will and intellect either in the TdlE or in the KV. For example, it seems to me that § 78 of the TdlE effectively anticipates Spinoza's critique of the Cartesian doctrine of suspense of judgment in E IIP49S. And I take it that KV II, xiv, also criticizes the (:artesian distinction, though on different grounds. " See the annotation at 11/9/12. ' See Curley 2~ ef. Joachim 2, 24-33. THE EMENDA TION OF THE INTELLECT the whole work may have been intended only to present a popular, imprecise exposition of Spinoza's thought on these topics.9 The most important question, perhaps, is whether the whole con- cept of method, as Spinoza here presents it, is not incoherent, and so doomed to failure, to On the one hand, the truth is supposed to require no sign, and having a true idea is supposed to be sufficient to remove doubt (§ 36); on the other, the method is supposed, among other things, to teach us what a true idea is, and how to distinguish it from other perceptions (§ 37). But whatever reservations we may have about the doctrine of this work, it is clear that in the main it continued to satisfy Spinoza for some years. A letter to Bouwmeester in 1666 (Letter 37) repeats some of the Treatise's main themes--that the intellect, unlike the body, is not subject to chance, external causes, but has the power of forming clear and distinct ideas; that it is necessary above all to distinguish between the intellect and the imagination (this being identified with distinguishing between true ideas and all the rest, the false, fictitious and doubtful). And an interchange with Tschirnhaus in 1675 (Letters 59 and 60) indicates that Spinoza had communicated something similar to him informally, and had given Tschirnhaus some reason to expect that before long he would publish his treatise on method. Naturally, then, there have been a variety of suggestions as to why the Treatise never was published in Spinoza's lifetime. The editors of the Opera posthuma remark that the importance of the topic, the deep contemplations and extensive knowledge it required, made Spinoza's progress with it very slow. Appuhn suggests that Spinoza broke off the composition because he could not see any satisfactory solution to the problems raised at the end (§§ 102-103, 106-110), and that he did not return to finish it because he came to think it more important to concentrate on his other works on moral and political philosophy (the Ethics, the Theological-Political Treatise, and the Political Treatise). Koyr~, on the other hand, tends to emphasize the difficulty raised in § 46 (see the note to II11811-2). Ironically, Joachim's excellent commentary on this work itself remained unfinished at his death because he was una- ble to resolve to his satisfaction the problem of how Spinoza meant to conclude the Treatise. if the character of this work as unfinished, highly problematic, and only posthumously published invites comparison with Descartes' Re- gulae, the apparently autobiographical character of the opening see- Cf. Joachim 2, 89-90. lo So Joachim argues at any rate. Cf. Joachim 2, 102-111. EARLIEST WORKS tions equally invites comparison with the Discourse on Method. The tone of the two works is quite different, of course. The dissatisfaction Descartes presents as leading him to philosophy is with the uncertainty of the learning that had been imparted to him as a student. Spinoza's dissatisfaction is with the insufficiency of the ends men commonly pursue. Of course scholars have doubted whether these opening passages should be taken as strictly autobiographical (just as they have doubted the accuracy of Descartes' account of his life in the D~ourse). As Koyr6 remarks (Koyr6 2, xix), the theme de vero bono et de contemptu mundi is as old as the world itself. Various Stoic authors (e.g., Marcus Aurelius and Seneca) have been cited. And Elbogen calls attention to the work of a medieval Jewish author, Shem Toy Falaquera, whose Ha-Mevak. kesb similarly offers knowledge as the path to salvation. However that may be, it remains, as Koyr6 also remarks, highly significant that Spinoza should begin a treatise on method by reflecting on the true good. The paragraph numbers in brackets are those introduced by Bruder and are included for ease in making and following references. Lettered footnotes are Spinoza's, numbered footnotes are mine. I have adopted the lettering of Gebhardt's edition, though (even allowing for differences in the Latin alphabet) it is not entirely consecutive. o NOTICE TO THE READER1 Tm s Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect etc., which we give you here, kind reader, in its unfinished [NS: and defective] state, was writ- ten by the author many years ago now. He always intended to finish it. But hindered by other occupations, and finally snatched away by death, he was unable to bring it to the desired conclusion. But since it contains many excellent and useful things, which--we have no doubt--will be of great benefit to anyone sincerely seeking the truth, we did not wish to deprive you of them. And so that you would be aware of, and find less difficult to excuse, the many things that are still obscure, rough, and unpolished, we wished to warn you of them. Farewell. ' By the editors of the Opera postburaa. THE EMENDA TION OF THE INTELLECT Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect III5 and on the way by which it is best directed 5 toward the true knowledge of things [1] Av'rER experience had taught me that all the things which regu- larly occur in ordinary life are empty and futile, and I saw that all the things which were the cause or object of my fear had nothing of good or bad in themselves, except insofar as [my] mind was moved by them, I resolved at last to try to find out whether there was anything which would be the true good, capable of communicating itself, and which alone would affect the mind, all others being rejected--whether there was something which, once found and acquired, would continuously give me the greatest joy, to eternity. [2] I say that I resolved at last--for at first glance it seemed ill-advised to be willing to lose something certain for something then uncertain. I saw, of course, the advantages that honor and wealth bring, and that I would be forced to abstain from seeking them, if I wished to devote myself seriously to something new and different; and if by chance the greatest happiness lay in them, I saw that I should have to do without it. But if it did not lie in them, and I devoted my energies only to acquiring them, then I would equally go without it. [3] So I wondered whether perhaps it would be possible to reach my new goal---or at least the certainty of attaining it--without chang- ing the conduct and plan of life which I shared with other men. Often I tried this, but in vain. For most things which present themselves in life, and which, to judge from their actions, men think to be the high- est good, may be reduced to these three: wealth, honor, and sensual 2 The translation of this title is disputed. The Latin for the main title is Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione, the Dutch Handeling van de Verbetering van't Verstant. Joachim (2, I) argued that no English term could reproduce the exact implications of the Latin, but recommended "Purification of the Intellect" as rightly suggesting a project of restoring the intellect to its "natural perfection, by eliminating from it . . . ideas which are not its own but have come to it from an external source." DeDengd's criticism of Joachim (I. 50-57), while rightly pointing out that the Dutch version cannot plausibly bear that meaning, gives insufficient weight to § 16. Eisenberg (3) argues that no term can repro- duoe the exact implications of the Latin, since Spinoza's phrase has no exact implica- tions. At the time of writing this work Spinoza inconsistently conceived of the intellect both as inherently pure and as needing purification. He did not clearly distinguish between the mind, which cannot he entirely freed of external influences, and the intel- lect, which has no need to be. No translation will solve such difficulties. The subtitle in the NS reads: "and at the same time of the means of making it perfect." EARLIEST WORKS pleasure.3 The mind is so distracted by these three that it cannot give the slightest thought to any other good. [4] For as far as sensual pleasure is concerned, the mind is so caught up in it, as if at peace in a [true] good, that it is quite prevented from thinking of anything else. But after the enjoyment of sensual pleasure is past, the greatest sadness follows. If this does not completely engross, still it thoroughly confuses and dulls the mind. The mind is also distracted not a little by the pursuit of honors and wealth, particularly when the latter' is sought only for its own sake, because it is assumed to be the highest good. [5] But the mind is far more distracted by honor. For this is always assumed to be good through itself and the ultimate end toward which everything is directed. Nor do honor and wealth have, as sensual pleasure does, repentance as a natural consequence. The "more each of these is possessed, the more joy is increased, and hence the more we are spurred on to increase them. But if our hopes should chance to be frustrated, we experience the greatest sadness. And finally, honor has this great disadvantage: to pursue it, we must direct our lives according to other men's powers of understanding — fleeing what they commonly flee and seeking what they commonly seek. [6] Since I saw that all of these things stood in the way of my working toward this new goal, indeed were so opposed to it that one or the other must be given up, I was forced to ask what would be more useful to me. For as I say, I seemed to be willing to lose the certain good for the uncertain one. But after I had considered the matter a little, I first found that, if I devoted myself to this new plan of life, and gave up the old, I would be giving up a good by its nature uncertain (as we can clearly infer from what has been said) for one uncertain not by its nature (for I was seeking a permanent good) but only in respect to its attainment. [7] By persistent meditation, however, I came to the conclusion that, if only I could resolve, wholeheartedly,4 [to change my plan of life], I ' ! could explain this more fully and distinctly, by distinguishing wealth that is sought for its own sake, or for the sake of honor, or for the sake of sensual pleasure or for the sake of health and the advancement of the arts and sciences. But I reserve this for its own place; such an exact investigation is not appropriate here. The choice of this particular trinity is probably influenced by Aristotle. Cf. the Nicomachean Ethics I, 4, and the Short Treatise II, v, 6. ' "Modi possera penituss deliberare." Deliberare can mean 'to deliberate' and most translators have given us something like "If only I could reflect thoroughly Ion the matter]." But deliberare can also mean 'to decide as a consequence of deliberation' and ! follow Koyr~ in thinking that to be the meaning here. When Spinoza comments on this phrase in § 10 it seems clear that he thinks of his difficulty as more volitional than intellectual. Cf. E IVPI4. THE EMENDA TION OF THE INTELLECT would be giving up certain evils for a certain good. For I saw that I was in the greatest danger, and that I was forced to seek a remedy with all my strength, however uncertain it might be--like a man suf- fering from a fatal illness, who, foreseeing certain death unless he employs a remedy, is forced to seek it, however uncertain, with all his strength. For all his hope lies there. But all those things men or- dinarily strive for, not only provide no remedy to preserve our being, but in fact hinder that preservation, often cause the destruction of those who possess them,b and always cause the destruction of those who are possessed by them.5 [8] There are a great many examples of people who have suffered persecution to the death on account of their wealth, or have exposed themselves to so many dangers to acquire wealth that they have at last paid the penalty for their folly with their life. Nor are there fewer examples of people who, to attain or defend honor, have suffered most miserably. And there are innumerable examples of people who have hastened their death through too much sensual pleasure. [9] Furthermore, these evils seemed to have arisen from the fact that all happiness or unhappiness was placed in the quality of the object to which we cling with love. For strife will never arise on account of what is not loved, nor will there be sadness if it perishes, nor envy if it is possessed by another, nor fear, nor hatred--in a word, no dis- turbances of the mind. Indeed, all these happen only in the love of those things that can perish, as all tl~e things we have just spoken of can do. [10] But love toward the eternal and infinite thing leeds the mind with a joy entirely exempt from sadness.~ This is greatly to be desired, and to be sought with all our strength. b These things are to be demonstrated more accurately. s The NS has: "often cause the destruction of those who possess them (if one may speak thus), and always of those who are possessed by wealth." It seems likely that the parenthesis is an addition by the translator and bears on the notion of being possessed by wealth. OP: "Sed amor erga rem aeternam, & infinitam sol~ laetitih pascit animum, ipsaque omnis tristitiae est expers'; NS: "Maar de liefde tot d'eeuwige cn oneindige zaak voed de geest lmargin: mens] met blVschap alleen, en is van alle droefheit uitgesloten." The translation of this important passage is disputed. Joachim (2, 18, n.4) notes that various translators have rendered it as if it were the love that was exempt from sadness (which makes the Latin ungrammatical, but is what the Dutch implies), lie, however, sees here a foreshadowing of the doctrine that God is exempt from sadness. (I.e., ipta refers not to amor, but the eternal and infinite thing.) This is possible, both grammatically and philosophically, but Joachim surely goes too far when he contends that this interpretation is necessary to explain why love for God feeds the mind with unmixed joy. Appuhn, Koyré, and Caillois all take ipsa to refer to laetitia, an alternative Joachim does not discuss, and to my mind the one most likely. EA RLIEST" WORKS But not without reason did ! use these words If only I couM resolve in earnest/For though I perceived these things [NS: this evil] so clearly in my mind, I still could not, on that account, put aside all greed, desire for sensual pleasure and love of esteem. [1 1] I saw this, however: that so long as the mind was turned toward these thoughts, it was turned away from those things, and was think- ing seriously about the new goal. That was a great comfort to me. For l saw that those evils would not refuse to yield to remedies. And although in the beginning these intervals were rare, and lasted a very short time, nevertheless, after the true good became more and more known to me, the intervals became more frequent and longer---espe- cially after I saw that the acquisition of money, sensual pleasure, and esteem are only obstacles so long as they are sought for their own sakes, and not as means to otl~er things. But if they are sought as means, then they will have a limit, and will not be obstacles at all. On the contrary, they will be of great use in attaining the end on account of which they are sought, as we shall show in its place. [12] Here I shall only say briefly what I understand by the true good, and at the same time, what the highest good is. To understand this properly, it must be noted that good and bad are said of things only in a certain respect, so that one and the same thing can be called both good and bad according to different respects. The same applies to perfect and imperfect. For nothing, considered in its own nature, will be called perfect or imperfect, especially after we have recognized that everything that happens happens according to the eternal order, and according to certain laws of Nature. [I 3] But since human weakness does not grasp that order by its own thought, and meanwhile man conceives a human nature much stronger and more enduring* than his own, and at the same time sees that nothing prevents his acquiring such a nature, he is spurred to seek means that will lead him to such a perfection. Whatever can be a means to his attaining it is called a true good; but the highest good is to arrive,--together with other individuals if possible---at the enjoy- ment of such a nature. What that nature is we shall show in its proper "Mod~ possera seri~ deliberare." In referring back to 1116121 Spinoza does not in fact quote himself exactly. g Wendel and Cassircr thought it necessary to emend this passage so that it would read: "man conceives a nature much stronger than his own human nature." But I find Gebhardt's arguments against this conclusive (ll/J22-J23). The text as it stands is sup- ported by the NS and paralleled by passages both in the Short Treatise (11,4; 1/60121ff.) and the Ethics (IX:, Pref.. 111208). I~o)'rg (2, 98-99) is right to remark that the passage is a difficult one on any reading, but his comments do not seem to me to stress sufficiently the necessity both of man's conceiving such a stronger nature and of his striving to attain it. THE EMENDA TION OF THE INTELLECT place: that it is tile knowledge¢ of the union that the mind has with the whole of Nature? [14] This, then, is the end I aim at: to acquire such a nature, and to strive that many acquire it with me. That is, it is part of my hap- piness to take pains that many others may understand as I understand, so that their intellect and desire agree entirely with my intellect and desire. To do this it is necessary,dfirst to understand as much of Na- ture as suffices for acquiring such a nature; next, to form a society of the kind that is desirable, so that as many as possible may attain it as easily and surely as possible. [15] Third, attention must be paid to Moral Philosophy and to In- struction concerning the Education of children. Because Health is no small means to achieving this end, fourthly, the whole of Medicine must be worked out. And because many difficult things are rendered easy by ingenuity, and we can gain much time and convenience in this life, fifthly, Mechanics is in no way to be despised. [16] But before anything else we must devise a way of healing the intellect, and purifying it, as much as we can in the beginning, so that it understands things successfully, without error and as well as pos- sible.'° Everyone will now be able to see that I wish to direct all the sciences toward one end" and goal, viz. that we should achieve, as we have said, the highest human perfection. So anything in the sciences which does nothing to advance us toward our goal must be rejected as useless---in a word, all our activities'and thoughts are to be directed to this end. [17] But while we pursue this end, and devote ourselves to bringing , These things will be explained more fully in their place. d Note that here I take the trouble only to enumerate the sciences necessary for our purpose, without attending to their order. In the sciences there is only one end, toward which they must all be directed. o If this is taken, as it may be, to mean "knowledge that man is a part of nature, and sublect to its umversal laws, then the doctnne is very Stole. Cf. Marcus Aurehus, Meditations, Vll, 9-13; X,6. But the passage is also one which, more than any other perhaps, encourages the interpretation of Spinoza as a mystic. ,o That the intellect requires purification (expurgatio) is a Baconian doctrine. Cf. the Nottum Organm (Bacon, I, 139 = IV, 27). For healing (raedendt) the NS has simply "impro,,ing" (verbeteren). Eisenberg (3, 175) argues that passages like this one are symp- tomatic of a tendency to confuse the intellect with the mind "at least during much of the time that he wrote the treatise." And since, in Letter 2 (IV18-9), Spinoza is quite critical of Bacon for not distinguishing the intellect from the mind, and for supposing that the intellect is deceived by its own nature, it seems likely that, by the time of writing that letter (September 1661), Spinoza would have regarded passages like this as unsatisfactory. Note that in that letter Spinoza criticizes Bacon for comparing the in- tdlect to an uneven mirror (cf. Bacon, I, 164). A similar comparison occurs in the purification of the intellect passage cited above, except that there it is the mind that is compared to an uneven mirror. See also Miguini 2, 106. EA RL IES T WORKS the intellect back~1 to the right path, it is necessary to live. So we are forced, before we do anything else, to assume certain rules of living as good: 1. To speak according to the power of understanding of ordinary people, and do whatever does not interfere with our attaining our purpose. For we can gain a considerable advantage, if we yield as much to their understanding as we can. In this way, they will give a favorable hearing to the truth. 2. To enjoy pleasures just so far as suffices for safeguarding our health. 3. Finally, to seek money, or anything else, just so far as suffices for sustaining life and health, and conforming to those customs of the community that do not conflict with our aim. [18] Having laid down these rules, I come now to what must be 35 done first, before all else: emending~-" the intellect and rendering it I1/10 capable of understanding things in the way the attainment of our end requires. To do this, the order we naturally have requires me to sur- vey here all the modes of perceiving which I have had up to now for affirming or denying something without doubt, so that I may choose the best of all, and at the same time begin to know my powers and the nature that ! desire to perfect. [19] If I consider them accurately, I can reduce them all to four13 main kinds: 1. There is the Perception we have from report or from some conventional sign. 14 2. There is the Perception we have from random experience,Is that is, from experience that is not determined by the intellect. ~' Latin: "intelkctura . . . redigamus." NS: "bet verstant . . . te brengen." But the lan- guage of purification in the preceding paragraph seems to justify the suggestion of re- turning to an original state of rectitude. ,z NS: "zuiveren," purify. " NS: "three"; but it goes on to enumerate four kinds, as the OP does. Gebhardt thought this might naturally he explained on the assumption that in an earlier draft of the Treatise Spinoza had divided the kinds of 'knowledge' into three (as in the Short Treatise and the Ethics) rather than four. He also took it as evidence that the Dutch translation was made, not from the text of the Opera postbuma, hut from an independent, earlier manuscript, in which revisions were not consistently carried out. For counter- argument see Mignini 2, 126-127. ~" On the translation here, and on the classification generally, see Joachim 2, 24-33, and Curley 2, 25-59. ,s As Joachim notes, this passage echoes one in Bacon, Novum Organura I, 100 (Bacon, 1,203 [ = IV, 95]). He also calls attention to aphorisms 25, 70, and 105. Perhaps Bacon's influence is also to be seen in Descartes' Regalae, AT X, 427.

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