In 1656, Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated, from the Jewish community into which he was born. He had taught some doctrines that offended the Jewish elders – and so was punished with ostracism, exile, and various “curses” (as they saw it). Nonetheless, he is now seen as one of the most important Jewish philosophers of the “Age of Enlightenment.” He has often been admired by various poets and romantics, as well as by scientists like Albert Einstein. Why is this? Who is Baruch Spinoza, and what were his contributions? These are the questions addressed by the audiobook that I’m here undertaking to review.
Spinoza’s family was of Portuguese Jewish extraction, but they had emigrated to the more tolerant environment of the Netherlands. Thus, Baruch Spinoza was born in Holland, and his native language was Dutch. He grew up learning Hebrew, as was common to the Jews of his own time (and since). However, Spinoza made the decision to learn Latin, because it was the major international language of his time. This, in itself, caused some friction with his fellow Jews. Many of Spinoza’s works were written in Latin, although he did much Biblical criticism that used his Hebrew training. The tradition of modern Biblical scholarship owes something to Spinoza, which is one of his major contributions. However, Spinoza was often accused in his own time of being an atheist. And, at times, his views can strike readers as coming “perilously close” to atheism. But he denied being an atheist, and considered himself a theologian who believed in God. Nonetheless, he is best known today as a philosopher (rather than a theologian), who wrote in many different subfields of philosophy.
Baruch Spinoza
For example, Spinoza was a Continental Rationalist, much like René Descartes before him. That is, he believed that he could simply “reason” his way to all philosophical truths, and distrusted the evidence of one’s senses. This is one of the differences between his beliefs and my own. He also believed in a “deterministic” theory of human actions, denying any notions of free will. This is another of my differences with him, since I am a “free will” person. Spinoza also wrote on ethics, and I have somewhat more agreement with him on this subject. However, he sometimes seemed to believe that human conflicts would simply “go away,” if people would just learn how to see things clearly. This is a view at odds with modern science. Conflicts over resources, mates, and many other things seem to be inherent in both nature and society. This is why some of his ideas strike me as rather naïve, betraying the limitations of his “Continental Rationalist” approach. That is, there are limitations to how much one can “reason” their way to philosophical truth, and some things do not admit of the “geometric” certainty that he sometimes claimed them to have. Spinoza wrote many of his works in a geometrical “proof” format, including works where he claimed to have “deduced” the nature of God. On this issue, there are many Jews who would disagree with Spinoza, and I find myself more in agreement with these empirically-minded Jewish thinkers than with Spinoza himself.
Probable portrait of Baruch Spinoza
That being said, this audiobook is a great introduction to Spinoza’s work. For one, it has the brilliant narration of Charlton Heston. For another, this audiobook starts with a brief biography of Spinoza, which movingly tells his story. This audiobook then delves into the nature of his ideas, as summarized above. The author’s sympathy for Spinoza’s ideas may exceed my own somewhat, but the quality of the audiobook has very little to do with this part. I’m more interested in whether it’s a clear exposition of Spinoza’s philosophy. And, on that account, this audiobook certainly delivers, helping one to understand one of the greatest philosophers in Jewish (or broader Western) history.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Baruch Spinoza
Others to be covered later
Others to be covered later
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment