Jolanta Żelazna

THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT OF SPINOZA’S ETHICA S u m m a r y The article focuses on Spinoza’s manuscript found in The Vatican Apostolic Library and published by L. Spruit and P. Totaro in the book The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethica (2011). The identification of the text became possible as the result of their arduous research in which the name of a Danish scientist N. Stensen, the author of several letters usually published in the collections of Spinoza’s letters, played a crucial part. The manuscript Vat. Lat. 12 838 is the only known editorial copy of Spinoza’s manuscripts and its origins are dated as early as 1675, i.e. before the publication of Opera posthuma. The comparison of its contents with the Ethics, published in 1677, points to many differences, most of which are typical mistakes, occurring probably either in Spinoza’s manuscript, or in the editorial copy, or else made by the typesetter and not expunged during the editorial proofreading. However, the editors emphasize the importance of some substantive differences of the text for the interpretation of Spinoza’s Ethics. The history of the manuscript and the circumstance it found its way to the library of The Holy Office and thence to the Vatican Apostolic Library enabled the editors to put forward some hypotheses concerning the circulation of Spinoza’s manuscripts in the period when the censure was issued against him after the publication of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.

Radical Enlightenment – Spinoza’s Demiurgic Role in the Formation of the Idea of Enlightenment? In his monograph devoted to the history of enlightenment, Radical Enlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity (1650-1750) British historian Jonathan Irvine Israel formulated a  new theory of dating, sources, and the nature of this period of history. Israel attributed a  major role in the formation of the concepts of enlightenment to the philosophy of Spinoza (1632-1677). The work has caused a series of controversies and criticisms concerning the assessment of facts related to the history of ideas. In this article I refer to interpretations of the role of Spinoza’s philosophy and its early reception between 1663-1678 when it had a direct influence. The political situation in the Netherlands in the period of 1648-1677 (i.e. from the gaining of independence to the death of Spinoza) and the fate of the philosophy of Descartes (since 1650) are two significant factors that played an important role in shaping the initial reception of Spinozism and determined the fate of that philosophy for a long time.

The translations of Holy Scripture to the local European languages in the beginning of Reformation were usually based on Latin Bible. It's language was vastly different from the dialects used by the Old Testament prophets and Christ. By raising the question of the contents of their teachings in A Theologico-Political Treatise, Spinoza underlined the necessity of basing the translations on the sources most approximate to the Hebrew versions of the parables and teachings, initially passed by oral speech only. According to him, the knowledge of the Hebrew language and the traditions of the nation of Israel allowed to distinguish the essence of religion (the contents of the faith) from the tools of providing credibility to the prophecies and from means serving the consolidation of these contents (the religious cult). Up to that point, Jews and Christians alike treated the biblical message as a "sacred" script, not as a record of moral guidelines passed with a simple, common language acommodated to the sensibility of the archaic fishermen, hunters, farmers and merchants. In A Theologico-Political Treatise, Spinoza employed his own method of deciphering the chosen fragments of the Hebrew Bible, sharing the philological and historical knowledge he found useful in bringing out the universal moral guidelines, comprehensible to the "pure mind" and comprising the very meaning of faith.

I've got a "predecessor", and what a fine one too!" Circumstances of the creation of Nietzsche's "Zarathustra" The name of SSpinoza appears in the notes of F. Nietzsche from the beginning of the eighties. Basing on information contained in K.Fisher's History of Philosophy he hails the sage from den Haag as his predecessor. In the course of next few years the greatest works of Nietzsche are written and his professional, personal and health matters become very complicated. At the end of his life embittered, lonely and deeply misunderstood Nietzsche pens remarks concerning Spinoza's writings once again - this time drastically different in style and the judgement of their worthiness. As both of the philosophers use the term of "power", both reject personalised God and propose the reversion of the hierarchy of the moral values, many researcherswere inspired by Nietzsche's notes to investigate the connections of the two philosophies. However, is the connection real, or is it but an illusion, a delusion of a link caused by the use of similarndevices and terms in different contexts? How did such a radical change in Nietzsche's views come to pass - a change of views not only of Spinoza's philosophy, but of Schopenhauer's and Wagner's musical work as well? The answers to those questions may be sought with use of Jung's theory of archetypes, as an example. In reference to Nietzsche's biography it shows one of the possible interpretations of his approach to the persons mentioned

Imagination plays a specific role in Spinoza's Ethics. Similarly to Epictetus' fantasia it is the source of affections of body and mind. Proper understanding of the origins of acataleptic perceptions (Epictetus) and imaginations (Spinoza) together with their interactions enable mind to get free from passive states and to reach happines. In Ethics imagination can be found wherever images are formed - in eyes, that is in body, whereas in mind an occurrence parallel to affection of optic nerves is a perception, or comprehending an idea. I the article I try to present this "parallelism" of psychophysical occurences by referring to everyday examples.

W monografii Radical Entlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity poświęconej dziejom oświecenia brytyjski historyk Jonathan Irvine Israel sformułował nową tezę dotyczącą datowania, źródeł i charakteru tego okresu historii i przypisał filozofii Spinozy znaczącą rolę w sformułowaniu haseł oświecenia. Jego praca wywołała szereg kontrowersji i uwag krytycznych, dotyczących oceny faktów należących do obszaru historii idei. Artykuł przypomina o interpretacjach roli filozofii Spinozy i o jej wczesnej recepcji, kiedy filozof oddziaływał bezpośrednio. Wydarzenia polityczne w Niderlandach w okresie 1648–1677 oraz losy filozofii Descartes’a są czynnikami wydatnie ingerującymi w kształtowanie się pierwotnej recepcji spinozyzmu i przesądzają na długo o losach tej filozofii.

Spinoza searched for a language that could help him to create a monistic system of ethics. Latin was in the 17th century a fairly malleable medium of communication. In its philosophical use it was largely a creation of Descartes. Spinoza wanted to use it in a way that would resemble Euclid's treatment of geometry. He needed a language that would clearly and precisely describe the process by which a man could liberate himself from the power of affection that hamper naturaly propensity for social peace and mental equaenimity. He decided to begin by describing nature, which was responsible for man's proclivities and abilities. Consequently he needed a new conception of substance which on the one hand could be definied by some initial axioms, and on the other hand would sufficiently flexible to include various aspects of human thought. It is interesting that when Spinoza had to make a choice between flexibility and content, he resolved to adopt a strict method of reasoning at the cost of the received understanding of substance. It is possible that these linguistic considerations led him to adopt the view that substance is identical with God and as such encompasses all principles of operations of the human mind and premises for the deriving of all fundamental notions popular in his times.

This article is a summation of work devoted to the main themes of Heidegger's and Nietzsche's philosophies. Heidegger's interpretation of Nietzscheanism and his evaluation of it prompt one make a more precise analysis of the relationship which hypothetically should exist between the "essential thought" of the two philosophers. A comparative analysis of the "essential" themes of the two philosophers shows, however, that questions which were undoubtedly most essential for Nietzsche are compeltely outside the area definied in Heidegger's philosophy as "essential thought", while very many elements of Nietzsche's thought indicate that it is not "essential" philosophy in Heidegger's understanding.

Do we understand the emotions? (Sartre and Spinoza) Can the difficulties of the Spinozian theory of affects be explained by the use of the tool of phenomenology, employed by Sartre in Esquisse d'une Theorie des Emotions? The similarity of the method and views used in Ethics and Esquisse... suggests such an attempt is possible. Endeavours corresponding to the phenomenological reductions were made in Ethics, Spinoza, similarily to Husserl and Sartre, accepts the intuition and direct insight into the essence of things as the key to cognition. The article summarises the base common points of both theories. A complying answer of Sartre to the question in the title seems to result from a not precise epoche reduction, whereas the Spinoza's answer is directly incorporated into his theory.

"Was heisst Denken?" - das ist die Frage die sich in Heideggers schriften vom Anfang seiner philosophischer Arbeit bis zum letzten Interviev zieht. Vorliegender Text ist eine Probe der Rekonstruktion des Gebiets um den diese Frage den Kreis des hermeneutischen Begreifens zieht. Er interpretiert auch ihre Bedeutung im Bereich der Kunst und der Philosophie. Das Problem des fragenden "Subjekts" wurde aber hier nicht beruhrt. Es ist ein Problem, welches die Moglichkeiten seiner Aufgliederung im einen kurzen Artikel weit uberschreitet. Vorliegender Artikel ist nur ein Teil einer umfangreicheren Arbeit, die der Beziehung des "wesentlichen Denkens" von Heidegger zu den - nach seiner art - "wesentlichen" Faden der Philosophie von F. Nietzsche gewidmet ist.

Supplements and Footnotes in Ethics. Reason, Imagination, Understanding This sketch contains a rought analysis of Spinoza's reasons for adding "Footnotes" and "Supplements" to his "Ethics", both of which containing many undefined words disrupting the coherrence of the deductive order of exposition used in the main body of the work. Doubts raised by readers of the early versions of "Ethics" and "A Theologico-Political Treatise" and, most of all, several difficulties understanding the exposition, occasioned by the same parts of the work, independent of reader's education, induced Spinoza to a more detailed survey into the cognitive process and the role of its particular elements. The ability to understand depends on ratio and intellect, whereas the real understanding is the result of association, recognition, imagination and memory. When referring to such "ideal" objects as the objects of geometry, these factors do not introduce any previously known content to the proces of cognition, but when referred to previously gained experience they easily draw the activity of ratio and intellect away from the course of the deduction delineated in the text.

The Notion of Substance in the "Ethics" by Spinoza Spinoza searched for a language that could help him to create a monistic system of ethics. Latin was in the 17th century a fairly malleable medium of communication. In its philosophical use it was largely a creation of Descartes. Spinoza wanted to use it in a way that would resemble Euclid's treatement of geometry. He needed a language that would clearly and precisely describe the proces by which a man could liberate himself from the power of passions that hamper natural propensity for social peace and mental equanimity. He decided to begin by describing nature, which was responsible for man's proclivities and abilities. Consequently he needed a new concept of substance which on the one hand could be defined by some initial axioms, and on the other hand would sufficiently flexible to include various aspects of human thought. It is interesting that when Spinoza had to make a choice between flexibility and content, he resolved to adopt a strict method of reasoning at the cost of the received understanding of substance. It is possible that these linguistic considerations led him to adopt the view that substance is identical with God and as such encompasses all principles of operation of the human mind and premises for the deriving of all fundamental concepts popular in his times.

Happiness. The view of Descartes and Spinoza The article summaries some of the aspects of joy as a spiritual state (Descartes), and as affect / stimulation of the modi of nature (Spinoza). The psycho-physiological (Descartes) and ontological (Spinoza) placement of joy creates basic differences in evaluation of the said state by the two philosophers. As a result, the moral instructions provided by them to the reader vary in an approach to the emotions and their effect on human actions. Descartes values the importance of sadness as an affect warning us from dangers; Spinoza claims that joy (as different from pleasure) can never be excessive and encourages pursuing it as a mean to achieve happiness.

Existence and Time in the Philosophy of Spinoza In Ethics, Spinoza distinguishes the existence and duration/time. He connects the first one with the necessity of validity of eternal, constant logical thruth, the second one - with a mean by which ratio orders in the mind the relations between the ideas occuring in the perceptions and recollections. The proper understanding of both of these terms is one of the conditions of archeving the aims of Ethics, praeclara animi aequiescentia, a breath of the soul, possible if we treat time and duration as an hypothetical model of events, rather than one adequate towards nature.

Wovon handelt Spinozas Affektentheorie Der Begriff des Affekts ist aus der Umgangsprache verschwunden und durch die Ausdrucke wie "Gefuhl", "Emotion" abgelost worden. Spinozas Auffassung, die er in seiner "Ethik" ausgearbeitet hat, verliert infolgedessen an Verstandlichkeit und ist heute ganz vergessen, obgleich die Spinoza-Kenner standig die theoretische Tragweite und die Aktualitat mancher seiner Vorschlage unterstreichen. Spinoza warnte seine Leser davor, den Menschen als ein abgesondertes, autonomisches Sein zu betrachten, das sich uber die naturlichen Einschrankungen erhebt und immer betonte, dass wir ein Produkt und strenggenommen - ein Modus der Existenz der Natur sind, den er als eine unendliche, unteilbare, immer wirkende Substanz verstand. Von entscheidender Bedeutung fur die menschliche Gluckseligkeit ist das Verstandnis der Tatsache, dass wir innerhalb der unendlichen, wirkenden Natur leben und deswegen die Frage nach ihren Grenzen keinen Sinn hat. Es bleibt uns nichts anderes als ihre Erscheinungen immanent zu forschen und anzunehmen, dass sie in jedem Akt auf unermesslich viele Weisen ihr Wesen ausdrucken, das die menschliche Vernunft als Idee erfasst. In der Natur gibt es daher keine Irrtumer und wenn wir sie wahrnehmen, geschieht es so, weil wir selbst Erregungen der Substanz sind und auch durch andere ihre Modi erregt werden. Das System der menschlichen Wahrnehmung errinert an eine Wasserflache, die durch Windstosse und ins Wasser hineinfallende Objekte gekrauseltet wird - unsere Wahrnehmungen der nachsten Erregungen der Natur sind selten adaquat. Spinoza stellt fest, dass der erste und grundsatzliche "Affekt" aller Modi der Substanz ist das Streben, sich im Sein zu behaupten. In der Natur begleiten ihn zweie andere Affekte: eine (aktive) Forderung und eine (passive) Hemmung des Tatigkeitsvermogens aller Attribute der Substanz. Der Mensch nennt sie entsprechend "Lust" und "Unlust". Aus diesen drei Erregungen entstehen verschiedene Kombinationen und Vermischungen von Empfindungen, die seine Seele erschuttern. Die Aufgabe der Ethik besteht vor allem darin, die Natur selbst und unsere Abhangigkeit von ihr zu erkennen und erst in weiterer Folge - den menschlichen Status quo festzusetzen, d.h. zu bestimmen, auf weche Weise man den Affekten aus der Gattung von "Unlust" ihre destruktive Einwirkungskraft auf die menschliche Vernunft entziehen kann. Man muss sich aber standig daran erinnern, dass sowohl die aktiven als auch die passiven Affekte Zustande der Natur selbst sind.

The Birth of Nihilism - the Era of Myth, the Era of Thruth The paper reverts to the trend of Nietzsche's philosophy which at present is often quoted to justify the thesis of the Nietzschean source of post-modernity was to be a theoretical basis of the critics of "passive" nihilism by the author of "The Dawn of Day". Nietzsche contrasts the antique Greek vision of the world with the European outlook, re-intereprets the assumptions constituting the foundations of the European rationalism and Greek "optimism", and attempt to show how the philosophy of Socrates and Plato significantly "re-valued all values" for the first time.