Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~130,000 words · 616 passages
Cite this work
- APABaruch Spinoza. (n.d.). Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/short-treatise-on-god-man-and-his-well-being
- MLABaruch Spinoza. Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/short-treatise-on-god-man-and-his-well-being.
- ChicagoBaruch Spinoza. Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/short-treatise-on-god-man-and-his-well-being.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The early sketch of Spinoza's system, written around 1660 and lost for two centuries: the same philosophy as the 'Ethics' before it took geometrical form.
Context and history
Spinoza never published it, and the text is known only from two Dutch manuscript copies discovered in the nineteenth century; the Latin original is lost. That makes it doubly interesting. First, because the central theses are already here — God as the sole substance, mind and body as two aspects of one thing, freedom as knowledge of necessity — but set out in ordinary prose, with dialogues and digressions, and so far more approachable than in the 'Ethics'. Second, because it lets one see how he got there: there are traces of Descartes that would later disappear. It should be read for what it is, a youthful draft the author chose not to publish, and not as his settled word.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Spain had been the home of Jews long before the intro duction of Christianity. Under non-Christian rule they enjoyed considerable power and prosperity. With the in troduction of Christianity, however, came the desire to convert the Jews ; and as the Church was not very nice or scrupulous about the methods employed, there commenced a series of intermittent barbarities which stained the annals of medieval Christianity for many centuries. Fortunately for the Jews these persecutions were neither universal nor constant. Bad blood broke out now here, now there, but there were usually also healthy spots, and healthy members, immune from the fell disease. While the fanaticism of the mob was often irritated by envy, the fanaticism of princes was, as a rule, overcome by their personal interests. For the Jews of Spain numbered some of the bravest soldiers, some of the ablest Ministers of State, and, above all, some of the most resourceful financiers. The Kings of Spain and Portugal, accordingly, took the Jews under their protection, though they could not always prevent out breaks which involved the loss of thousands of Jewish lives. During periods of respite, Jews outvied their neighbours in * Benedicius is simply the Latin equivalent of the Hebrew Bafuch. xi xii INTRODUCTION their devotion to literature, science, and philosophy. They produced eminent poets, celebrated doctors and astro nomers, and most influential philosophers. Indeed the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries have come to be re garded as the golden age in the history of the Jews since the dispersion, and that chiefly through the distinction achieved by the Jews of Spain. But fanaticism neither slumbered nor slept. And the climax was reached in the year 1492, when, under the baneful influence of Torquemada, the Jews were expelled from Spain, in spite of the golden promises made by Ferdinand and Isabella so long as they needed Jewish aid against Moorish foes.…