Spinoza STUART HAMPSHIRE SPINOZA FABER AND FABER 24 Russell Square London First published by Penguin Books in mcmli This edition reprinted from the Pelican edition [Pelican Philosophy series: General Editor: A. J. Ayer) and first published in mcmlvi by Faber and Faber Limited 24 Russell Square London W.C.i Printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co Ltd Plymouth All rights reserved To B Contents Preface page 9 I. Philosophical Background ii II. Outline of Metaphysics 25 III. Knowledge and Intellect 63 IV. Freedom and Morality 92 V. Politics and Religion 133 VI. The Nature of Metaphysics 157 Appendix: Life 170 Index 176 7 Preface The standard edition of the works of Spinoza in Latin is that of Dr. Carl Gebhardt (Heidelberg, 1925); a more widely available edition is that of Van Vloten and Land in two volumes (The Hague, 1882). English translations of the Ethics and of The Treatise on the Correction of the Understanding have appeared in Everyman’s Library (Dent) and in the Bohn Series (George Bell); the two- volume edition of the Chief Works of Spinoza in the Bohn series also includes translations of the Theological-Political Treatise and of the Political Treatise. There is an earlier translation of the Ethics and On the Correction of the Understanding by W. Hale White (better known as ‘Mark Rutherford’) and Amelia S. Stirling (Duckworth, 1899). f The best English edition of the Letters, which are indispen­ sable for an understanding of Spinoza, is The Correspondence of Spinoza edited by A. Wolf (Allen and Unwin, 1929), which has a useful introduction and notes. The early Principles of Descartes’ Philosophy, with its appendix, the Metaphysical Thoughts, is of importance chiefly to those studying the development of Spinoza’s thought and writing (Open Court Publishing Company). The early Short Treatise on God, Man, and his Well-Being was translated and annotated by Professor A. Wolf (Black, 1910); the Short Treatise is also primarily of interest to students of Spinoza’s development. The most careful studies of Spinoza in English are A Study of Spinoza’s Ethics by Η. H. Joachim (Oxford University Press, 1901) and the posthumously published lectures, Spinoza’s 9 PREFACE Tractatus De Intellectus Emendatione: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 1940), by the same author: also The Philosophy of Spinoza by H. A. Wolfson (Harvard University Press, 1934). The following will also be found useful: Spinoza: His Life and Philosophy by Sir Frederick Pollock (Duckworth, 1880), Spinoza, Descartes and Maimonides by L. Roth (Oxford University Press, 1924), Spinoza by L. Roth (Benn, 1929). More advanced students will find some articles of great value in the Chronicon Spinozanum issued in The Hague as the organ of the Societas Spinozana. All references to the Ethics are to the originally numbered Parts and Propositions, Definitions, Demonstrations, and Notes of that work; all such references appear in brackets in the text in abbreviated form, e.g. ‘Ethics Part II. Proposition XIV and Demonstration': {Ethics Pt. II. Prop. XIV and Dem.) References to the Letters follow the numeration of Wolf’s English edition. The versions given follow the existing translations with a few minor alterations. I am grateful to Mrs. Martha Kneale and to Professor A. J. Ayer and Mr. A. G. Wernham for valuable suggestions. IO