The 64 best sentences of Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza was one of the great philosophers of modernity. His thought had a great influence on Western thought and, more specifically, on the way in which his contemporaries began to interpret reality. To review the most famous phrases of Baruch Spinoza is to constantly meet with great reflections on the most varied topics.
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The best phrases of Baruch Spinoza
Below you can find a selection of phrases by Baruch Spinoza to better understand how this referent of philosophy thought.
1. If, according to what the apostle says in 2 Corinthians, 3,3, they have in themselves the letter of God, not written with ink, but with the spirit of God, and not on stone tablets, but in the tables of flesh of the heart, that stop to adore the letter and to be so worried about it.
A criticism of the lack of coherence of many Christian groups.
2. Our method of interpreting writing is the best. Because, as the highest authority to interpret writing is in the power of each, the norm of interpretation should be nothing more than natural light, common to all, and not a light superior to nature or any external authority.
The philosopher emphasized what all people have in common when interpreting the ambiguous.
3. The great secret of the monarchical regime and its maximum interest are to keep men deceived and to disguise, under the specious name of religion, the fear with which they want to control them, in order to fight for their slavery, as if it were your salvation, and do not consider ignominy, but the highest honor, give your blood and your soul to the pride of one man.
A reflection on the monarchy in the form of harsh criticism.
4. The natural right of every man is not determined, then, by sound reason, but by desire and power.
What we want defines us more than the logic we use to achieve it.
5. If it were so easy to command over souls (animus) as over tongues, everyone would reign safely and no state would be violent, since all would live according to the opinion of those who rule and only according to their decision would judge what is true or false, good or bad, fair or iniquitous.
A phrase by Baruch Spinoza that talks about his ontology.
6. If no one can renounce his freedom of opinion and think what he wants, but each one is, by the supreme right of nature, owner of his thoughts, it follows that you can never try in a state, without condemning yourself to a resounding failure, that men speak only by prescription of the supreme powers, although they have different and even contrary opinions.
The fact that each person makes their decisions and creates a different flow of thought in itself, makes it impossible to dominate their opinions.
7. By law and institution of nature I understand nothing other than the rules of the nature of each individual, according to which we conceive that each being is naturally determined to exist and to act in a precise way.
Individuals are part of the whole of nature.
8. To disengage ourselves from that mob, to free our minds from the prejudices of the theologians, and not to recklessly embrace the inventions of men as if they were divine doctrines, we must approach the true method of interpreting Scripture and discussing it thoroughly; since, if we do not know it, we can not know with certainty what the Scripture wants to teach or the Holy Spirit. In short, the method of interpreting Scripture is not different from the method of interpreting nature, but is in full agreement with it.
Spinoza, son of the Renaissance, I wanted to release the knowledge of the dogmas that governed philosophy during the Middle Ages , even those referring to the biblical scriptures.
9. Those who excel by their imagination, have less aptitude for purely intellectual knowledge.
For this thinker, imagination is a diffuse form of thinking that does not fit with purely intellectual activity.
10 Those who stand out for their intelligence and cultivate it to the fullest, have the power to imagine more moderate and more controlled, as if they held it down with a brake so that it does not get confused with the understanding.
A phrase of Spinoza related to the previous one.
11. Everything we do must tend towards progress and improvement.
This reflection shows your faith in progress and progress.
12. Whoever intends to determine everything with laws, will rather provoke vices, which will correct them. What can not be prohibited is necessary to allow it, although many times there is still some damage.How many evils, in fact, do not come from luxury, envy, greed, drunkenness and similar acts? And they are supported, however, because they can not be avoided by the prohibition of laws, even if they are really vices.
A reflection that challenges the logic of the most authoritarian mentalities.
13. The more simultaneous concurrent causes aroused an affect, the greater this is.
A reflection on certain types of psychological phenomena.
14. The greatest of all imperfections is the non-existence.
A phrase that recalls the ontological argument of San Anselmo.
15. In any case, it is not weapons that overcome tempers, but love and generosity.
Emotions have a more powerful impact on people than weapons.
16. The academies that are formed by the State are instituted not so much to cultivate minds, as to embridar them.
A paradox: you can teach people to limit their abilities and their freedom to think.
17. Enjoy pleasures to the extent that it is sufficient to protect health.
A recommendation that hints at the dangers of excess.
18. The order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things.
Spinioza believed in an equivalence between the spiritual and the material world.
19. Sin can not be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.
In this way, Spinoza characterized sin as a social construct.
20. And of all the ideas, that each one has, we make a whole or, what is the same, an entity of reason, which we call understanding.
Our understanding is a broad category that encompasses all the ideas to which we have access.
21. The same thing can be good, bad, and indifferent at the same time. For example, music is good for melancholy, bad for those who are in mourning, and neither good nor bad for the deaf.
Reality has several facets.
22. I also know that it is as impossible for the vulgar to be free from superstition as from fear.
There are certain patterns of thinking and feeling that make us fall into them constantly.
23. Anything that is contrary to nature is also to reason, and anything that is contrary to reason is absurd.
A logical derivation about the unnatural.
24. Freedom of judgment must be granted, since it is a virtue and can not be oppressed.
About the psychological properties of people.
25. However, although natural science is divine, the name of prophets can not be given to those who propagate it, since what they teach can be perceived and accepted also by other men with equal certainty and dignity, and not by simple faith.
A curious important distinction in the time of Spinoza, although today not so much.
26. But let us suppose that this freedom is oppressed and that it is possible to subject men to the point that they do not dare to say a word without permission from the supreme powers. It will never be achieved with that they do not think about anything other than what they want.
About the absurdity of trying to regulate thoughts.
27. Men are, in general, of such a nature that they bear nothing with less patience than they have for a crime opinions that they believe true.
About the relative truth held in the opinions, and the debates that this clash of ideas arouses.
28. Both the prince and the whole army could not be more attracted by war than by peace. Indeed, the army was formed, as we have said, only by citizens and, therefore, it was the men themselves who administered both the war and the peace. Hence, who was a soldier in the camp, was a citizen in the forum, and who was boss in the camp, was a prince in the city. Nobody could desire, then, the war for the war, but for the peace and to defend the freedom.
Spinoza reflects on the motivations that led people to war.
29. The most violent State will be, then, the one in which each one is denied the freedom to say and teach what he thinks; and it will be, on the other hand, moderate that in which all that same freedom is granted to all.
Another one of the reflections of Spinoza on the right.
30. Just as men have been accustomed to call divine that science that exceeds the human capacity, so have they called God's work or work of God to that work whose cause is ignored by the common people.
Knowledge is distributed differently by social strata.
31. The vulgar, in fact, believes that God's power and providence are never as clear as when he sees something unusual happening in nature and opposed to the opinion that he has received about it, especially if it results in profit and own comfort.
About the type of events that stimulate the attribution to God of a work.
32. The vulgar calls miracles or works of God to the unusual works of nature; And, partly out of devotion, partly out of desire to oppose those who cultivate the natural sciences, he boasts of ignoring natural causes and only wants to hear what he ignores and, therefore, what he admires the most.
A paradox: that whose explanation is unknown can arouse more interest while ignoring what is known.
33. It is called sacred and divine that object that is intended for the practice of piety and religion, and will only be sacred while men make it a religious use. If they cease to be pious, he will ipso facto also cease to be sacred; and, if they dedicate it to doing ungodly things, it will become as unclean and profane as before it was sacred.
Even the sacred objects are in a way relative to what social consensus is made with it.
34. Scripture usually depicts God in the image of man and attribute to him soul, spirit, affections and even body and breath, because of the weak intelligence of the vulgar.
Spinoza believed that we limited the conception of God so that it reaches the masses.
35. If you do not want to repeat the past, study it.
An interesting aphorism on the importance of knowing the past, individual or collective.
36. Nothing exists whose nature does not have some effect.
Everything in nature is connected through the cause effect.
37. That a finite understanding can not understand anything by itself, unless it is determined by something external.
Another of Spinoza's reflections based on logic.
38. The most important activity that a human being can achieve is to learn to understand, because to understand is to be free.
An opinion very in line with other well-known philosophers , as for example Plato.
- Maybe you're interested: "Plato's theory of ideas"
39. The cause that emerges, that preserves and fosters superstition is, then, fear.
Spinoza placed in this emotion the origin of superstitions.
40. I have carefully taken care not to make fun of human actions, not to deplore them, not to detest them, but to understand them.
A declaration of intentions on the part of this thinker.
41. Men deceive themselves by believing themselves free; and the reason for this opinion is that they are aware of their actions, but they ignore the causes because they are determined; therefore, what constitutes their idea of freedom, is that they do not know any cause of their actions.
Ignorance makes us believe we are free.
42. He who repents of what he has done is doubly miserable.
An opinion on repentance as a loss.
43. That which is itself and is conceived by itself; that is, that whose concept does not need the concept of something else, from which it must be formed.
A definition of what exists by itself.
44. We have said that the soul is an idea, that it exists in the thinking thing and that it comes from the existence of a thing that exists in nature.
Once, highlighting the connection between the natural and the spiritual.
45. Everything that men decide for their welfare does not follow that it is also for the welfare of all nature, but rather, on the contrary, it can be for the destruction of many other things.
The interests of the human being do not have to include respect for the rest of nature's elements.
46. By God I understand an absolutely infinite being, that is, a substance that consists of infinite attributes, each of which expresses an eternal and infinite essence.
A brief definition of what Spinoza was God.
- Related article: "How was Spinoza's God and why did Einstein believe in him?"
47. Only a grim and sad superstition can prohibit delight.
In defense of pleasure.
48. The greatest pride, and the greatest abjection, are the greatest ignorance of oneself.
A curious paradox.
49. Many philosophers have believed that outside of the small field of earth globe, where they are, there is no other, since they do not observe it.
A critic to those who do not think beyond their referents.
50. Most errors are simply that we do not correctly apply names to things.
An idea that centuries later was rescued by analytical philosophers.
51. Society is extremely useful and equally necessary, not only to live in safety against enemies, but also to have abundance of many things; then, unless men want to collaborate with one another, they will lack art and time to sustain themselves and preserve themselves as best they can.
A justification for the existence of society.
52. Flattery also engenders concord, but through the repugnant vice of servility, or perfidy.
There are different paths to the same patterns of behavior.
53. The proud, who want to be the first, not being so, are the ones who most easily fall into the networks of adulation.
Another one of the phrases of Baruch Spinoza in which it is generalized to a group of the population.
54. If man has an idea of God, God must exist formally.
At least in some plane of reality, God exists.
55. That which is not loved, never provokes struggles, nor sadness, nor laziness, nor envy, if another possesses it, neither fear nor hatred nor, in a word, no inner commotion.
Love mobilizes us , for good and for bad.
56Only what exists is free because of the needs of its own nature, and is influenced in its actions only by itself.
You can only be free if you are disconnected from the rest.
57. The true freedom of man has to do with strength, that is, with firmness and generosity.
A portrait of the characteristics that make man freer.
58. The search for honors and riches also distracts the mind, especially when they are looking for themselves, since then they are considered as the highest good.
That which is seen as a sign of power and wealth, can divert us from our most significant projects.
59. The purpose of the ceremonies was, then, that men did not do anything by their own decision, but everything by mandate of others and that with their actions and considerations they left a record that they were not autonomous, but totally dependent on another.
The ceremonies regularize the behaviors.
60. A free man thinks nothing less than death, and his wisdom is not a meditation on death, but of life.
Another of Spinoza's aphorisms, this time linked to thoughts about death.
61. Someone may think, however, that in this way we convert our subjects into slaves, believing that it is a slave who works for an order, and free who lives at will. But this is far from being true, since, in reality, who is driven by their appetites and is unable to see or do anything that is useful to them, is a slave to the fullest.
62. The human soul is apt to perceive many things, and the more apt it is, the more willing its body can be.
On the flexibility of the intellectual gifts .
63. All things that are in nature are either things or actions. Now, good and evil are not things or actions. Then good and evil do not exist in nature.
The good and the bad are social constructions.
64. It is not obedience, but the end of action, what makes one a slave. If the end of the action is not the utility of the agent himself, but of the one who commands, then the agent is a slave and useless to himself.
We are enslaved through inaction.
