Spinoza And His Jewish Influence Essay Research

Spinoza And His Jewish Influence Essay, Research Paper

Spinoza is considered one of the critical foundations of modern western thought. However, since he was of Jewish background and sought to expand on what he was taught by Jewish tradition, it is safe to say that much of modern western thought is based, partly, on Jewish ideas through Spinoza. Though there is not a whole lot written in English covering exactly what Spinoza learned and thought during his early years, a comparison of Spinoza s writings with Jewish writings offers a great deal of insight into how he was influenced by those ideas.

From all accounts, Baruch Spinoza, who later changed his name to the Latin equivalent Benedict Spinoza, was a shining light in the Jewish community. He quickly mastered Hebrew and studied at quite an early time the Talmud. His teachers, among them Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira, had great hopes for him. Though Spinoza did not wish to follow his successful father s footsteps as a merchant, Spinoza s father grew proud that his son showed such inspiration in Jewish thought and was on his way toward becoming a rabbi. It is said that the study of the Talmud trained his intellect, particularly through reasoning by analogy, and that his study of the Haggada had a great and permanent influence upon his code of living. (Knight 1) Indeed, when people looked back on his life, the peasants loved him for his good nature and the learned respected him for his intellect. He never accepted more money than he needed, and he was generally reverent toward others.

Though a modest man, his critique of the scriptures did not sit well with his teachers. Spinoza noted more the problems the scriptures created than the solutions they tried to propose. For Spinoza, it seemed the more he studied and thought, the more the Jewish doctrine turned into questions. After studying the Bible, then moving on to the Talmud, Spinoza looked into the writings of Maimonides, Levi ben Gerson, Ibn Ezra, and Hasdai Crescas, then to Ibn Gebirol and Moses of Cordova. In regard to Moses of Cordova, Spinoza was interested in his idea of God and the universe and looked to ben Gerson who taught the eternity of the world. (Durant 149) He read in Maimonides a discussion of the doctrine of Averroes, which said that immortality is impersonal, but when he read the Guide to the Perplexed, he found more confusion than answers. According to Durant, Spinoza found the contradictions and improbabilities of the Old Testament lingering in his thought long after the solutions of the Maimonides had dissolved into forgetfulness. In the writings of Ibn Ezra, the problems of the old faith were more directly expressed and sometimes declared unanswerable.

He began to wonder what Christians had to say about the questions he raised. He soon started to study Latin under Van den Ende; a Dutch scholar who was considered to some degree a bit of a heretic himself. Described as adventurous, Van den Ende criticized creeds and governments and even joined a conspiracy against the King of France, though was hung in 1674. In addition to teaching Spinoza Latin, he had a pretty daughter who found interest in Spinoza, though she quickly lost it when another suitor came around bearing expensive gifts.

Around this time he truly became a philosopher and studied Socrates, Plato, Democritus, Epicurus, and Lucretius. From these he took their terminology and geometrical explanation using axioms, definitions, propositions, proofs, scholiums, and corollaries. (Durant 150) From Bruno he took the idea of unity: that all is contained within one substance and is unified in cause and origin. It seems from Bruno Spinoza gets a great deal of the basis of his later writings, notably that mind and matter are one and linked with everything. Of course, more than anyone else, Descarte, known as the father of the subjective and idealistic, influenced Spinoza. However, Spinoza was much more interested in Descarte s idea of one substance, which underlies all forms of matter, and another that underlies all forms of mind versus the epistemology that Descarte as well as many other philosophers get lost with. However, since Spinoza had that great idea of unity, two substances did not sit well with him. What also attracted Spinoza was Descarte s attempt to explain the world, aside for the concepts of God and the soul, through mechanical and mathematical laws. Where Descarte would not talk about God, Spinoza wanted to; and where Descarte spoke of two supreme substances, Spinoza wanted a better explanation.

By this point, Spinoza crossed the fine line of the pursuit of knowledge to sounding like a heretic. Spinoza was called before the elders of the synagogue to answer charges of heresy. According to Durant, he was asked if it was true that he told his friends that God might have a body- the world of matter; that angels might be hallucinations; that the soul might be merely life; and that the Old Testament said nothing of immortality. His answer was not recorded, but in some way he must have not taken back his words because he was offered an annuity of $500 and at least outwardly remain loyal to the Jewish faith. He refused the offer and was subsequently excommunicated, a practice extremely rare, though understandable given the situation of the Jews in Europe at that time. Spinoza was now separated from the whole Jewish community, sent away by his father, and his sis