In Baruch Spinoza’s magnum opus, the Ethics, he writes: “That eternal and infinite being we call God, or Nature, acts from the same necessity from which he exists.” This formula—Deus sive Natura, God or Nature—is the cornerstone of a groundbreaking new philosophy that Spinoza fashioned in the wake of Descartes’ mind-body dualism. Rejecting Descartes’ view, Spinoza argued instead for a radical monism, claiming that the entire universe was but one single infinite substance, and that all things in it were necessarily interconnected “properties” or aspects of that single substance: God or Nature. This idea was condemned almost immediately as an amoral, atheistic creed, and the epithet of “Spinozist” became an accusation of the highest order. Despite the controversial and even heretical status of his core thesis, even Spinoza’s critics often find themselves forced to admit that his systematic philosophy is extraordinarily rigorous and consistent. It played a crucial role in the development of post-Kantian German idealism in thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel and F.W.J. Schelling, it was fundamental for twentieth-century continental philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze and Louis Althusser, and it remains a key point of reference in contemporary debates in metaphysics as well as ethical and political theory. But how can we understand, in its dizzying totality, Spinoza’s systematic philosophy? Is the universe, as Spinoza claims, made up of only one single substance? What is Spinoza’s philosophical legacy, not least for materialists up to and including Marxists? In what ways does Spinozist thought remain alive for us today?
In this course, we will engage in a close reading of the Ethics, in which Spinoza’s thought is given its most well-articulated and mature presentation. We will carefully work through the inner workings of Spinoza’s rationalist metaphysics, including his defense of the principle of sufficient reason, his pantheistic conception of God, and his deterministic vision of the world. We will also consider his profound critiques of anthropocentrism, voluntaristic notions of human free will, and natural teleology. Along the way we will trace his influence on later thinkers and ask questions about the viability of rationalism as a philosophical program, the reach and limits of human understanding, and the possibility of ethics in a deterministic world.
Note:
There *is* no physical Brooklyn Institute. We hold our classes all over (thus far) Brooklyn and Manhattan, in alternative spaces ranging from the back rooms of bars to bookstores to spaces in cultural centers, including the Center for Jewish History, the Goethe-Institut, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. We can (and do) turn any space into a classroom. You will be notified of the exact location when you register for a class.
