Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide

310 Pages·2010·3.442 MB·English

by  Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Michael A. Rosenthal

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SPINOZA’S
THEOLOGICAL-POLITICAL
TREATISE
Spinoza’sTheological-PoliticalTreatisewaspublishedanonymouslyin1670
and immediately provoked huge debate. Its main goal was to claim that
the freedom of philosophizing can be allowed in a free republic and that
itcannotbeabolishedwithoutalsodestroyingthepeaceandpietyofthat
republic.Spinozacriticizesthetraditionalclaimsofrevelationandoffersa
social contract theory in which he praises democracy as the most natural
formofgovernment.ThisCriticalGuidetotheTreatisepresentsnewessays
by well-known scholars in the field and covers a broad range of topics,
including the political theory and the metaphysics of the work, religious
toleration, the reception of the text by other early modern philosophers,
and the relation of the text to Jewish thought. It offers valuable new
perspectivesonthisimportantandinfluentialwork.
yitzhak y. melamed isAssociateProfessorinthePhilosophyDepart-
mentatJohnsHopkinsUniversity.HeistheauthorofSpinoza’sMetaphysics
ofSubstanceandThought(forthcoming),aswellasseveralarticlesonearly
modernphilosophy,GermanIdealismandmetaphysics.
michael a. rosenthal is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the
UniversityofWashington.HeistheauthorofnumerousarticlesonSpinoza
and early modern philosophy, which have appeared in journals including
Archiv fu¨r Geschichte der Philosophie, Journal of the History of Philosophy,
andJournalofPoliticalPhilosophy.
cambridge critical guides
Titlespublishedinthisseries:
Hegel’sPhenomenologyofSpirit
edited by dean moyar and michael quante
Mill’sOnLiberty
edited by c. l. ten
Kant’sIdeaforaUniversalHistorywithaCosmopolitanAim
edited by ame´lie oksenberg rorty and james schmidt
Kant’sGroundworkoftheMetaphysicsofMorals
edited by jens timmermann
Kant’sCritiqueofPracticalReason
edited by andrews reath and jens timmermann
Wittgenstein’sPhilosophicalInvestigations
edited by arif ahmed
Kierkegaard’sConcludingUnscientificPostscript
edited by rick anthony furtak
Plato’sRepublic
edited by mark l. mcpherran
Plato’sLaws
edited by christopher bobonich
Kant’sMetaphysicsofMorals
edited by lara denis
Spinoza’sTheological-PoliticalTreatise
edited by yitzhak y. melamed and michael a. rosenthal
SPINOZA’S
Theological-Political Treatise
A Critical Guide
edited by
yitzhak y. melamed
JohnsHopkinsUniversity
and
michael a. rosenthal
UniversityofWashington
cambridge university press
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LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Spinoza’s‘theological-politicaltreatise’:acriticalguide/editedbyYitzhakY.Melamed,
MichaelA.Rosenthal.
p. cm.–(Cambridgecriticalguides)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-88229-3(hardback)
1.Spinoza,Benedictusde,1632–1677.Tractatustheologico-politicus. 2.Philosophyand
religion–History–17thcentury. 3.Freethought–History–17thcentury. i.Melamed,
YitzhakY.,1968– ii.Rosenthal,MichaelA.,1962–
b3985.z7s65 2010
199(cid:3).492–dc22 2010033073
isbn978-0-521-88229-3Hardback
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Contents
Listofcontributors pageix
Acknowledgments xii
Listofabbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
yitzhak y. melamed and michael a. rosenthal
1 Spinoza’sexchangewithAlbertBurgh 11
edwin curley
2 ThetextofSpinoza’sTractatusTheologico-Politicus 29
piet steenbakkers
3 SpinozaonIbnEzra’s“secretofthetwelve” 41
warren zev harvey
4 ReflectionsofthemedievalJewish–Christiandebateinthe
Theological-PoliticalTreatiseandtheEpistles 56
daniel j. lasker
5 TheearlyDutchandGermanreactiontotheTractatus
Theologico-Politicus:foreshadowingtheEnlightenment’s
moregeneralSpinozareception? 72
jonathan israel
6 G.W.Leibniz’stworeadingsoftheTractatus
Theologico-Politicus 101
mogens lærke
7 ThemetaphysicsoftheTheological-PoliticalTreatise 128
yitzhak y. melamed
vii
viii Contents
8 Spinoza’sconceptionoflaw:metaphysicsandethics 143
donald rutherford
9 Gettinghishandsdirty:Spinoza’scriticismoftherebel 168
michael della rocca
10 “Promising”ideas:HobbesandcontractinSpinoza’s
politicalphilosophy 192
don garrett
11 Spinoza’scuriousdefenseoftoleration 210
justin steinberg
12 Miracles,wonder,andthestateinSpinoza’s
Theological-PoliticalTreatise 231
michael a. rosenthal
13 NarrativeasthemeanstoFreedom:Spinozaontheusesof
imagination 250
susan james
Bibliography 268
Index 286