Spinoza's Philosophy of Divine Order (American University Studies)

While Spinoza is often interpreted as an early secular or liberal thinker, this book argues that such interpretations neglect the senses of order and authority that are at the heart of Spinoza’s idea of God. For Spinoza, God is an organized and directed totality of all that exists. God is entirely immanent to this totality, to such an extent that all things are fundamentally of God. Appreciating the full extent to which God permeates and orders every aspect of reality, allows the full sense of Spinoza’s theories of tolerance and the social contract to come into view. Rather than assuming that human beings involved in political relationships are independent, autonomous individuals, for Spinoza they are parts of a larger whole subject to distinct natural laws. Spinoza maintains that such laws manifest themselves equally and identically in the seemingly distinct realms of religion and politics. In this respect, Spinoza’s theories of religion and biblical interpretation are not properly secular in character but rather blur the standard boundary between the religious and the political as they try to recognize and codify the inviolable laws of nature – or God. Cover Table of Contents Notations and Abbreviations Introduction General Overview Outline The Problem of Agency Chapter One: “The Face of the Whole Universe”: Spinoza’s Idea of God Introduction: God’s Self-Causal Nature Substance "Natura Naturans—Natura Naturata" The Conditions of Pantheism The Problem of “Finite Modes” Real Distinctions Chapter Two: “A Kingdom Within a Kingdom”: Spinoza on the Individual and the Idea of the Will Introduction: The Problem of the Individual Mind and Body The Order of Desire Common Notions The “Idea” of the Will Chapter Three: “Nothing More Useful than Man...”: Spinoza on Politics Introduction Nature’s Laws Reasons for the Political Body The Freedom of Obedience The Conditions of Toleration Chapter Four: “The Supreme Reward of the Divine Law”: Law and Religion in Spinoza Introduction Spinoza’s Theocracy The Love of God Spinoza’s Idea of Hebrew The Politics of Biblical Interpretation Conclusion: “Man Is God to Man” Strauss Levinas Scripture, Servitude, and Sovereignty Notes Bibliography