Tractatus theologico-politicus

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Title page of the first edition

The Tractatus theologico-politicus is a writing by the Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza that was widespread in 1670 .

Provenance

The work, printed in Amsterdam in 1670 , was published anonymously and with misleading information about the alleged printing location Hamburg, because Spinoza found the philosophical and theological ideas about freedom of thought and religion developed in the book too explosive. The work was shared with other writings such as the Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes banned on 19 July 1674 by the court of Holland.

The first German translation by SH Ewald was published in Gera in 1787 under the title "On Holy Scripture, Judaism, Law of the Supreme Power in Spiritual Matters, and Freedom to Philosophize". Julius von Kirchmann arranged for another German transcription and explanations, which were printed in Berlin in 1870.

A valuable bibliophile volume of the first edition was in the senate room of the Albertus University in Königsberg . After the university was destroyed as a result of the siege of Königsberg by the Red Army, it was rescued from the rubble by Oskar Ehrhardt in 1945 and probably came to the University of Haifa by an adventurous route . This unique copy bears a dedication, signature, notes and typographical corrections in Spinoza's handwriting; a digitized version is available in the digital library of the University of Haifa.

Historical environment

The work is sometimes seen as a political tendency to justify the church policy of the brothers Johan (Jan) de Witt and Cornelis de Witt , which defend freedom of thought, the autonomy of reason and the primacy of science over the dogma of Jewish and Christian theology seeks. In the 17th century, the United Netherlands was considered one of the most liberal states in Europe. The extensive freedom of religion and conscience was, however, endangered by developments in domestic and foreign policy. Internally, the republic was shaken by the attempts of the Calvinists to assert themselves against the other religious communities in order to gain greater political influence. The simmering conflict between the House of Orange-Nassau and the States General for political power was another factor that weakened the republic. In terms of foreign policy, the Netherlands, whose prosperity was based on global maritime trade, repeatedly got into armed conflicts. Their course, which was less and less successful for the republic, was attributed to the politics of Johan de Witt , so that calls for the appointment of a governor in the person of Wilhelm III. of Orange-Nassau were loud. With the resignation of Johan de Witt and the appointment of Wilhelm III. from Orange-Nassau through the states of Holland to governor was accompanied by a general restriction of republican and civil liberties.

content

The text represents a criticism of religious intolerance and a plea for a secularized social order. In terms of content, Spinoza deals with two major subject areas: Chapters 1 to 15 deal with criticism of religion and the Bible, in Chapters 16 to 20 Spinoza presents his political philosophy .

Chapters 1 to 15

Spinoza, himself of Jewish origin, subjects not only Christianity, but also the other revealed religions, along with Judaism and Islam, to a systematic criticism and declares that it is not blind faith but critical reason that must be the measure of human action and thought. Logically, he refers prophecies, miracles and supernatural phenomena to the realm of legend, since they are not real. God himself does not act according to a teleological principle - this is merely a human assumption that has arisen out of fear - but according to rules that correspond to his own being and thus correspond to natural laws.

For Spinoza, religions are ultimately nothing more than institutionalized interpretations of theologically significant writings and events by particular representatives of these religions. For him, the five books of Moses are not the work of the Old Testament figure Moses himself, as was assumed until then. Using a text-critical analysis, Spinoza comes to the conclusion that these books were compiled by the Jewish priesthood over a long period of time.

He also criticizes the belief that the Jews are God's chosen people. On the other hand, he is of the opinion that all peoples are equal before God and that God did not distinguish any people from another. The idea of ​​being chosen is only a construct of Judaism that has helped Judaism to preserve its own identity and continued existence through isolation in the face of massive persecution by numerically far superior peoples. In this context, Spinoza mentions, among other things, circumcision as one of the decisive features of this Jewish identity. The Torah, on the other hand, is a document that reflects the state and religious conditions of early Israel; but with that it could no longer be up-to-date for the modern age.

Chapters 16 to 20

In the political part of the Tractatus, Spinoza ultimately advocates the independence of the state from religion and the freedom of citizens to think about the state.

To this end, Spinoza developed his political philosophy from the state of nature , through the formation of states and the separation of state and religion, to the reason why the individual cannot give up certain natural freedoms even in the state and why it is even good for the state if that Individuals also publicly represent their opinion that may differ from the state.

In contrast to many of his contemporaries, such as B. Thomas Hobbes , for Spinoza the state of nature does not provide a measure of justice or normative criteria. Everyone's natural right extends to everything that is in their power to do. This equates natural law and power. Because of this equation, there is no such thing as “just” or “unjust” in the state of nature, there are only those things that one has the power to do.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carl Gebhardt (ed.): Spinoza life descriptions and conversations. Published by Felix Meiner, Leipzig 1914, p. 128
  2. ↑ on all this Amihud Gilead , The Unique Copy of Spinoza's TRACTATUS THEOLOGICO-POLITICUS at The University of Haifa ("The Königsberg Copy"), Digital Gallery of the Rare Books & Special Collection of the University of Haifa Library
  3. ↑ Digitized version available at http://lib.haifa.ac.il/collections/dproj/index.php/en/rare-books-digital-gallery/17-rare-books/88-otherlangbooks

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