Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T08:54:04.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Philosophical Method of Spinoza

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

Vance Maxwell
Vance Maxwell
Affiliation:
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The main purpose of this paper is to argue, against the formalist or hypothetico-deductivist approach now dominant, that God or substance is for Spinoza a discovery, or indeed a kind of revelation. In both TdlE and Ethics, Spinoza affirms substance as the outcome of a search for salvation. He could not have held that a postulate or presupposition, even if thought necessary, can save man through abstract entailment. Indeed, salvation depends on “the quality of the object to which we cling with love”, the object being “the eternal and infinite thing” (TdlE 8–10).

Type
Articles
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 89 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bennett, J., 1984 A Study of Spinoza's Ethics. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Google Scholar
Charlton, W., 1981 “Spinoza's Monism”, The Philosophical Review 90/4.Google Scholar
Curley, E. M., 1969 Spinoza's Metaphysics: An Essay in Interpretation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Curley, E. M., 1985 The Collected Works of Spinoza. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Translation of Spinoza used in this article.)Google Scholar
De Dun, H., 1974 “Historical Remarks on Spinoza's Theory of Definition”, in Bend, J. G. van der, ed., Spinoza on Knowing, Being and Freedom. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
De Dun, H., 1986 “Conceptions of Philosophical Method in Spinoza: Logica and Mos geometricus”, The Review of Metaphysics 40/1.Google Scholar
Elwes, R. H. M., 1955 Benedict de Spinoza. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Feldman, S., 1982 Introduction to The Ethics and Selected Letters. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Google Scholar
Furlan, A., 1974 “Logic According to Spinoza”, in Bend, J. G. van der, ed., Spinoza on Knowing, Being and Freedom. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Groen, J. J., 1974 “Spinoza: ‘Philosopher and Prophet’”, in Bend, J. G. van der, ed., Spinoza on Knowing, Being and Freedom. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Gueroult, M., 1968 Spinoza. I: Dieu. Paris: Aubier.Google Scholar
Gueroult, M., 1974 Spinoza II: L'Ame. Paris: Aubier.Google Scholar
Hampshire, S., 1951 Spinoza. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Harris, E. E., 1973 Salvation From Despair: A Reappraisal of Spinoza's Philosophy. The Hague: M. Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Hubbeling, H., 1964 Spinoza's Methodology. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Joachim, H., 1901 A Study of the Ethics of Spinoza. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Joachim, H., 1956 Spinoza's Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Joachim, H., 1958 Spinoza's Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D., 1978 “On the Aims and Method of Spinoza's Philosophy”, in Shahan, R. and Biro, J., eds., Spinoza: New Perspectives. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Mark, T. C., 1975 “Ordine Geometrico Demonstrate: Spinoza's Use of the Axiomatic Method”, The Review of Metaphysics 29/2.Google Scholar
Maull, N., 1986 “Spinoza in the Century of Science”, in Grene, M. and Nails, D., eds., Spinoza and the Sciences. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Parkinson, G. H. R., 1954 Spinoza's Theory of Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pollock, F., 1912 Spinoza, His Life and Philosophy. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Rice, L. C., 1974 “Methodology and Modality in the First Part of Spinoza's Ethics”, in Bend, J. G. van der, ed., Spinoza on Knowing, Being and Freedom. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Savan, D., 1986 “Spinoza: Scientist and Theorist of Scientific Method”, in Grene, M. and Nails, D., eds., Spinoza and the Sciences. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Schmueli, E., 1978 “The Geometrical Method, Personal Caution, and the Ideal of Tolerance”, in Shahan, R. and Biro, J., eds., Spinoza: New Perspectives. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Wetleson, J., 1979 The Sage and the Way. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Wolf, A., 1966 The Correspondence of Spinoza. New York: Russell & Russell.Google Scholar
Zweerman, T., 1974 “The Method In Spinoza's Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione. Some remarks on This Problem Inspired by The Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and by Epistola 37”, in Bend, J. G. van der, ed., Spinoza on Knowing, Being and Freedom. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar