Spinoza Past and Present: Essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza Scholarship (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 215)

Spinoza Past and Present consists of twelve essays on Benedictus de Spinoza s Jewish background, his views on metaphysics, mathematics, religion and society. Special attention is paid to the various ways in which Spinoza s works have been interpreted from the late seventeenth century to the present day. In particular, Spinoza s recent popularity among advocates of the Radical Enlightenment is discussed: Van Bunge proposes a new interpretation of Spinoza s role in the early Dutch Enlightenment." Brill Academic Publishers Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Preface 14 Chapter One Baruch or Benedict? Spinoza as a ‘Marrano’ 16 1. ‘Marranos’ 16 2. Spinoza and Other Heretics 20 3. La Synagogue vide 25 4. La Judéité de Spinoza 28 Chapter Two The Autonomy of the Attributes 32 1. De Vries’ Question 32 2. Wolfson to Macherey 35 3. Early Criticism: Van Velthuysen to Bayle 41 4. Spinoza and Dutch Spinozism 46 Chapter Three The Idea of a Scientific Moral Philosophy 50 1. Practical Purposes 50 2. Mathematical Certainty 51 3. Form, Content, Method, Exposition 55 4. Geulincx and Spinoza 59 5. Locke and Spinoza 61 6. Conclusion 63 Chapter Four Spinoza and the Collegiants 66 1. Rijnsburger Collegiants 67 2. Plockhoy, Van den Enden and the Brothers Koerbagh 71 3. Conclusion 78 Chapter Five The Idea of Religious Imposture 82 1. Machiavelli to the Symbolum sapientiae 82 2. Spinoza on Moses and Christ 87 3. The Symbolum sapientiae to Lessing 95 4. Conclusion 98 Chapter Six The Politics of the Passions 102 1. Caute: Spinoza as a ‘Political Philosopher’ 103 2. The Politics of the Passions 106 3. Conclusion 111 Chapter Seven Causation and Intelligibility in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus 116 1. Causation and Intelligibility: Spinoza’s Rationalism 116 2. Prophetic Imagination 119 3. Origins of Scripture 123 4. Salvation by Obedience 125 5. Conclusion: Christ 128 Chapter Eight Vondel’s Noah on God and Nature 134 1. Noah or the Downfall of the First World 135 2. Theologians and Philosophers on the Origins of Evil 137 3. Noah: God and Nature 140 4. Vondel versus the Radical Enlightenment 146 5. Noah: Conclusion 150 Chapter Nine Censorship of Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic 152 1. The Politics of Censorship 152 2. Types of Censorship 155 3. Philosophy 160 4. Conclusion 166 Chapter Ten Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Dutch Spinozism 172 1. Johannes van Vloten 172 2. Low Ebb 184 3. The Return of Spinoza 188 4. Hubbeling, De Dijn, Klever 190 5. Conclusion 201 Chapter Eleven Radical Enlightenment: A Dutch Perspective 204 1. The Dutch Enlightenment Debate: Fortuyn, Van Gogh, and Hirsi Ali 204 2. Radical Enlightenment 208 3. Spinoza’s ‘Circle’ 210 4. Spinoza on Religion 213 5. The Spread of a Movement 218 6. Conclusion 223 Chapter Twelve Spinoza Past and Present 226 1. The Works 229 2. The Man 232 3. Spinoza Today 236 Bibliography 240 Index 268 9789004231375,(hardback,:,alk.,paper),—,ISBN,(invalid),978-90-04-23352-2,(e-book) 9789004231375 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN (invalid) 978-90-04-23352-2 (e-book) In Spinoza Past and Present Wiep van Bunge explores various aspects of Spinoza's works and the often conflichting ways in which the Dutch philosopher's views have been interpreted from the seventeenth century onwards.