Ethics (book)
Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata ( nlat. ) ( Ethics, presented on the geometric method) or short, ethics is a philosophical work of Baruch Spinoza, the posthumously in 1677, the year of his death, was published. It is considered his major work. Many parts of it had, however, already shown in earlier published writings Spinoza.
Social Context
Ethics is to understand the views of Spinoza's time. While scholars in the Netherlands of the 17th century, too often prescribed for the service of seafaring, trade and early industrialization, and it used the religion as a vehicle, the approach Spinoza is contrary to the fundamental. According to him, the philosophy should be eluted from any of God Convention and serve philosophy as a life lesson. This was a leap of scholasticism, similar to Descartes ' reply to the second Obiectiones against the Meditations on First Philosophy.
From professional theology Spinoza at that time was reviled as a dangerous pantheist and an atheist, especially in Germany because of his ethics.
Structure: "After geometrical method"
The geometric structure of the logical treatise gives the impression that it was a closed rounded whole. In the Ethics Spinoza summarizes both his metaphysics and his anthropology and his ethics, which he strictly follows the principles of Euclidean geometry to an oriented method. This geometric method was a cultural principle that time. Both French gardens as well as the preparation of the classicism in the architecture to Bach's Musical Offering pervaded the strict geometrical construction. Spinoza said that the geometry would enable scientists to assign its place in the whole objects and their arrangement should not be left to chance. Otherwise, the truth would remain hidden from the people for ever. Only in an irrefutable idea of God, of man and the world can show a different truth norm. Therefore it is the duty of philosophers to free things from their contradictions.
The paper is divided into five books.
Content
Spinoza tries to show the true nature of God. For him, God is not anthropomorphic to understand that as a being who can think, want, or could even have feelings. Furthermore, God is not to be understood as an instance that would have created the world by a fiat. He also makes fun of the concept of freedom of thought: One thing is free which exists solely by the necessity of their being and is determined only by itself to action.
Here he begins with definitions of body, mind, idea, reality. He looks at the interplay of consciousness and expansion and comes to the conclusion: " The order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things " epistemologically.
Here Spinoza developed his psychology of emotions. He defined at the beginning of the terms action, suffering and affect. Basically goes Spinoza believes that every thing strives to preserve as much of themselves and to persevere in its being ( conatus ).
Here, the actual ethical assumptions Spinoza's open in the sense of applied psychology. First, Spinoza shows the reactor, which limits that are imposed on the people by his psychological affects. Pursuit of truth is nothing more than a self-preservation impulse of the Spirit.
The true power of reason is himself admitting to the divine necessity of being of things. Knowledge is freedom of virtue and happiness.
New copy of the ethics in the Vatican Secret Archives
On 26 May 2011 it was announced that a new copy of ethics was found in the Vatican Secret Archives. Leen Spruit has ( ie two years before the year of death of Spinoza ) found an issue of ethics in 1675. However, it is not yet clear whether there are differences between the previously known published editions of 1677 and the newly discovered 1675.
Expenditure ( selection)
- Baruch de Spinoza. Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata. Latin - German. Newly translated, edited and with an introduction by Wolfgang Bartuschat. Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 1999, Philosophical Library, Vol 92. XXXI, 612 pages, ISBN 978-3-7873-1431-7.
- Benedictus de Spinoza ( 1677): The Ethics - Ethica. Latin - German. After the edition of Carl Gebhardt's " Spinoza Opera ". Revision of the translation of Jacob Stern ( 1888). Afterword v. Bernhard Brink Lake. Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-000851-5 ( first edition: Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-000851-4 ).