A Theologico- Political Treatise
Chapter 20
That in a free state every man may think what he likes, and say what he thinks.
1) * Every man is by indefeasible natural right the master of his own thoughts
* If menıs minds were as easily controlled as their tongues there would be obedience to their dictates.
* No man's mind can possibly lie wholly at the disposition of another, for no one can willingly transfer his natural right of free reason and judgment, or be compelled to do so.
*Attempts to control minds is
- tyrannical government
- abuse of sovereignty and a usurpation of the rights of subjects
* True, False, Worship of God is manıs natural right to choose
* Never prevent men from forming judgments according to their intellect (smart individuals with new ideas, do not suppress)
* Right to treat as enemies all men whose opinions do not, on all subjects, entirely coincide with own but allow them to be heard.
* No one can abdicate freedom of judgment and feeling
2) * Not even the most experienced men know how to keep silent
* Menıs common failing is to confide their plans to others
* Authority may be as much injured by words as by actions
3) * ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain, by fear, but to free every man from fear
- security
- strengthen his natural right
* Government is not to change men from rational beings into beasts or puppets, but to enable them to develop their minds and bodies in security, and to employ their reason unshackled
* True aim of government is liberty
4) * Impossible to preserve peace, unless individuals abdicate their right of acting entirely on their own judgment.
* Individual justly cedes the right of free action, though not of free reason and judgment
* Men may speak against the government, provided that he does so from rational conviction, not from fraud, anger, or hatred, and provided that he does not attempt to introduce any change on his private authority.
* If a man shows that a law is repugnant to sound reason and should therefore be repealed; then
- If he submits his opinion to the judgment of the authorities he has to
- meanwhile act in accordance to that law and - behave as a good citizen
- he will be looked favorably upon
* If the same man accuses the authorities of injustice, and stirs up the people against them, or if he seditiously strives to abrogate the law without their consent he is viewed as an agitator and rebel
5) * Justice is dependent on the laws of the authorities
* Highest regard for duty is exercised in maintaining public peace and tranquility
* Undutiful for a man to act contrary to his countryıs laws, for if the practice became universal the ruin of states would necessarily follow
* Seditious the very nature that nullifies the compact by which the right of free action is ceded.
* A man who holds that the supreme power has no rights over him
- that promises ought not to be kept
- that everyone should live as they please
- other doctrines of this nature in direct opposition to the above is seditious not so much from his actual opinions and judgment but from the deeds they involve.
6) * The best government will allow freedom of philosophical speculation no less than of religious belief
- it is best to grant what cannot be abolished even though it be in itself harmful, tolerated
* Free thought is a virtue that cannot be crushed
- necessary for progress in science and liberal arts
* If freedom were to be crushed men would daily be thinking one thing and saying another, the corruption of good faith
* The more rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech the more they are resisted
* If men are to be slaves, they believe it is not shameful but honorable to stir up sedition
- laws directed against opinions affect the generous minded rather than the wicked, (useless, great peril to the state)
* Useless laws will be broken by those who love virtue and the liberal arts, honorable men
* Death for freedom is glory
* Freedom of judgment should be granted to all men regardless of opinion to be harmonious
* Democracy, the most natural form of government
- everyone submits to the control of authority over his actions, but not over his judgment in reason
* The real disturbers of the peace are those who in a free state seek to curtail the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over
* The laws of the state are human and should therefore yield obedience to the laws of God-- in other words, to their own laws
A Political Treatise
Chapter 2
On Natural Right
1.) Discuss natural and civil right, wrong- doings, justice, human liberty
2.) Natural thing
a. needs the same power to enable them to go on existing, as to enable them begin to exist at all (from the eternal power of God.)
3.) God has a right to everything, Godıs right, God's power
a. Every natural thing has by nature as much right, as it has power to exist and operate (the power of God)
4.) Whatever any man does after the laws of his nature, he does by the highest natural right, and he has as much right over nature as he has power
5.) Men are more led by blind desire than by reason: therefore, the natural power of right of man should be limited, not by reason, but by every appetite, whereby they are determined to action, or seek their own preservation.
a. We cannot recognize any distinction between desires, which are engendered by reason, and those engendered by other causes
b. Man guided by reason or by desire is in accordance with the laws and rules of nature, natural right
6.) Some say that the human mind is produced by no natural causes, but created directly by God, thus making it independent of other things.
a. If this was the case all would be led by reason and order their lives wisely, far from being the case. Each is attracted by his own delight.
b. The first man himself being in his senses, and master of his own will, should not have been led astray and should not have let himself been taken mentally captive, subject to passion
7.) Man can by no means be called free because he only exists insofar as he preserves the power of existing and operating according to the laws of human nature
a. God who exists in absolute liberty also understands and operates of necessity, that is, exists, understands, and operates according to the necessity of his own nature.
b. He exists by the necessity of His own nature, by the necessity of his own nature also he acts, absolute liberty.
8.) All individual beings are determined in a fixed manner to exist and operate.
a. What our reason pronounces as bad is not bad as regards to the order and laws of universal nature, but only as regards to the laws of our own nature taken separately, we want everything to be arranged according to the dictate of our own reason.
9.) Man is dependent on one another but independent to repel violence, avenge his heart, and to live after his own mind.
10.) Upon the removal of dependency the other is then left independent
11.) Human power is to be reckoned less by physical vigor than by mental strength
a. Men are most independent whose reason is strong and are most guided
12.) Natural right judge-- judgment of one's own mind to decide that a promise should be broken, and by natural right he will break the same
13.) If two men come together and unite their strength they have jointly more power, and consequently more right over nature than both of them separately
14.) Men are natural enemies, liable to their passions
15.) The more fear a man has the less power and the less right he possesses
a. The more men combine the more right they possess
16.) The less right a man has the rest collectively exceed him in power, he has in fact, no right over nature but that which the common law allows him
17.) Dominion-- the right which is determined by the power of a multitude
a. General multitude -- democracy
b. Certain chosen persons -- aristocracy
c. power of one man -- monarchy
18.) In the state of nature, wrong- doing is impossible
19.) Wrong- doing cannot be conceived of but under dominion
a. The general right of the whole decides what is good and what is evil
20.) Wrong- doing goes against sound reason of the whole.
a. Human liberty is greater when man can be guided by reason and moderate their appetite.
21.) He who holds dominion and possesses natural right is bound by law and can do wrong.
22.) RELIGION
a. Man is most free and most obedient to himself when he most loves God, and worships him in sincerity.
b. Dictates are revealed to us by God within ourselves and through prophets - Man obeys God when he worships Him in sincerity and does wrong when he is led by blind desire
23.) Wrong- doings, obedience, justice, and injustice cannot be conceived of except under dominion.
a. Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than anothers but under nature everything belongs to all
24.) Praise and blame is an idea of human excellence or weakness....... this is ethics. Benedict de Spinoza contribution to free speech was that he professed the idea that every free state should allow every man to think and to speak what he likes. He believes that one can not impede another manıs thoughts. He thought that the government sh ould strengthen men's rights and strive for liberty. Benedict goes on to state that if one tries to suppress thoughts, they are only hurting themselves and citizens, good men, will only rebel against the tyranny. He also sets up the power structures of government, believing democracy as the best. He discusses man's reason vs. desire battle and the benefits of people coming together and uniting, causing more right over nature, forming a dominion. He proclaims t hat justice, injustice and obedience or wrong-doings are actions that are a form of nature in a government structure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
de Spinoza, Benedict. A Theologico- Political Treatise / A Political Treatise
Allison, Henry E. Benedict de Spinoza: An Introduction (revised edition)
Harris, Errol E. Spinozaıs Philosophy: An Outline
Dunner, Joseph. Baruch Spinoza and Western Democracy
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