Ethics

Spinoza

If Hobbes is to be regarded as the first of a distinctively British philosophical tradition, the Dutch-Jewish philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632–77) appropriately occupies the same position in continental Europe. Unlike Hobbes, Spinoza did not provoke a long-running philosophical debate. In fact, his philosophy was neglected for a century after his death and was in any case much too self-contained a system to invite debate. Nevertheless, Spinoza held positions on crucial issues that sharply contrasted with those taken by Hobbes, and these differences were to grow over the centuries during which British and continental European philosophy followed their own paths.

The first of these contrasts with Hobbes is Spinoza’s attitude toward natural desires. As has been noted, Hobbes took self-interested desire for pleasure as an unchangeable fact about human nature and proceeded to build a moral and political system to cope with it. Spinoza did just the opposite. He saw natural desires as a form of bondage. One does not choose to have them of his own will. One’s will cannot be free if it is subject to forces outside itself. Thus, one’s real interest lies not in satisfying ... (200 of 43,721 words)