Theologico-Political Treatise P1(神学与政治专题研究1)

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A Theologico-Political Treatise

A Theologico-Political

Treatise

A Theologico-Political Treatise

Part 1 - Chapters I to V

Baruch Spinoza

A Theologico-Political Treatise

PREFACE.

(1)Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their

circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune: but

being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often

kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of

fortune's greedily coveted favours, they are consequently, for the most part,

very prone to credulity. (2) The human mind is readily swayed this way or

that in times of doubt, especially when hope and fear are struggling for the

mastery, though usually it is boastful, over - confident, and vain.

(3) This as a general fact I suppose everyone knows, though few, I

believe, know their own nature; no one can have lived in the world

without observing that most people, when in prosperity, are so over-

brimming with wisdom (however inexperienced they may be), that they

take every offer of advice as a personal insult, whereas in adversity they

know not where to turn, but beg and pray for counsel from every passer-by.

(4) No plan is then too futile, too absurd, or too fatuous for their adoption;

the most frivolous causes will raise them to hope, or plunge them into

despair - if anything happens during their fright which reminds them of

some past good or ill, they think it portends a happy or unhappy issue, and

therefore (though it may have proved abortive a hundred times before)

style it a lucky or unlucky omen. (5) Anything which excites their

astonishment they believe to be a portent signifying the anger of the gods

or of the Supreme Being, and, mistaking superstition for religion, account

it impious not to avert the evil with prayer and sacrifice. (6) Signs and

wonders of this sort they conjure up perpetually, till one might think

Nature as mad as themselves, they interpret her so fantastically.

(7) Thus it is brought prominently before us, that superstition's chief

victims are those persons who greedily covet temporal advantages; they it

is, who (especially when they are in danger, and cannot help themselves)

are wont with Prayers and womanish tears to implore help from God:

upbraiding Reason as blind, because she cannot show a sure path to the

shadows they pursue, and rejecting human wisdom as vain; but believing

the phantoms of imagination, dreams, and other childish absurdities, to be

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the very oracles of Heaven. (8) As though God had turned away from the

wise, and written His decrees, not in the mind of man but in the entrails of

beasts, or left them to be proclaimed by the inspiration and instinct of

fools, madmen, and birds. Such is the unreason to which terror can drive

mankind!

(9) Superstition, then, is engendered, preserved, and fostered by fear. If

anyone desire an example, let him take Alexander, who only began

superstitiously to seek guidance from seers, when he first learnt to fear

fortune in the passes of Sysis (Curtius, v. 4); whereas after he had

conquered Darius he consulted prophets no more, till a second time

frightened by reverses. (10) When the Scythians were provoking a battle,

the Bactrians had deserted, and he himself was lying sick of his wounds,

"he once more turned to superstition, the mockery of human wisdom, and

bade Aristander, to whom he confided his credulity, inquire the issue of

affairs with sacrificed victims." (11) Very numerous examples of a like

nature might be cited, clearly showing the fact, that only while under the

dominion of fear do men fall a prey to superstition; that all the portents

ever invested with the reverence of misguided religion are mere phantoms

of dejected and fearful minds; and lastly, that prophets have most power

among the people, and are most formidable to rulers, precisely at those

times when the state is in most peril. (12) I think this is sufficiently plain

to all, and will therefore say no more on the subject.

(13) The origin of superstition above given affords us a clear reason

for the fact, that it comes to all men naturally, though some refer its rise to

a dim notion of God, universal to mankind, and also tends to show, that it

is no less inconsistent and variable than other mental hallucinations and

emotional impulses, and further that it can only be maintained by hope,

hatred, anger, and deceit; since it springs, not from reason, but solely from

the more powerful phases of emotion. (14) Furthermore, we may readily

understand how difficult it is, to maintain in the same course men prone to

every form of credulity. (15) For, as the mass of mankind remains always

at about the same pitch of misery, it never assents long to any one remedy,

but is always best pleased by a novelty which has not yet proved illusive.

(16) This element of inconsistency has been the cause of many terrible

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wars and revolutions; for, as Curtius well says (lib. iv. chap. 10): "The

mob has no ruler more potent than superstition," and is easily led, on the

plea of religion, at one moment to adore its kings as gods, and anon to

execrate and abjure them as humanity's common bane. (17) Immense

pains have therefore been taken to counteract this evil by investing

religion, whether true or false, with such pomp and ceremony, that it may,

rise superior to every shock, and be always observed with studious

reverence by the whole people - a system which has been brought to great

perfection by the Turks, for they consider even controversy impious, and

so clog men's minds with dogmatic formulas, that they leave no room for

sound reason, not even enough to doubt with.

(18) But if, in despotic statecraft, the supreme and essential mystery be

to hoodwink the subjects, and to mask the fear, which keeps them clown,

with the specious garb of religion, so that men may fight as bravely for

slavery as for safety, and count it not shame but highest honour to risk

their blood and their lives for the vainglory of a tyrant; yet in a free state

no more mischievous expedient could be planned or attempted. (19)

Wholly repugnant to the general freedom are such devices as enthralling

men's minds with prejudices, forcing their judgment, or employing any of

the weapons of quasi-religious sedition; indeed, such seditions only spring

up, when law enters the domain of speculative thought, and opinions are

put on trial and condemned on the same footing as crimes, while those

who defend and follow them are sacrificed, not to public safety, but to

their opponents' hatred and cruelty. (20) If deeds only could be made the

grounds of criminal charges, and words were always allowed to pass free,

such seditions would be divested of every semblance of justification, and

would be separated from mere controversies by a hard and fast line.

(20) Now, seeing that we have the rare happiness of living in a

republic, where everyone's judgment is free and unshackled, where each

may worship God as his conscience dictates, and where freedom is

esteemed before all things dear and precious, I have believed that I should

be undertaking no ungrateful or unprofitable task, in demonstrating that

not only can such freedom be granted without prejudice to the public

peace, but also, that without such freedom, piety cannot flourish nor the

A Theologico-Political Treatise

public peace be secure.

(21) Such is the chief conclusion I seek to establish in this treatise; but,

in order to reach it, I must first point out the misconceptions which, like

scars of our former bondage, still disfigure our notion of religion, and

must expose the false views about the civil authority which many have

most impudently advocated, endeavouring to turn the mind of the people,

still prone to heathen superstition, away from its legitimate rulers, and so

bring us again into slavery. (22) As to the order of my treatise I will speak

presently, but first I will recount the causes which led me to write.

(23) I have often wondered, that persons who make a boast of

professing the Christian religion, namely, love, joy, peace, temperance,

and charity to all men, should quarrel with such rancorous animosity, and

display daily towards one another such bitter hatred, that this, rather than

the virtues they claim, is the readiest criterion of their faith. (24) Matters

have long since come to such a pass, that one can only pronounce a man

Christian, Turk, Jew, or Heathen, by his general appearance and attire, by

his frequenting this or that place of worship, or employing the phraseology

of a particular sect - as for manner of life, it is in all cases the same. (25)

Inquiry into the cause of this anomaly leads me unhesitatingly to ascribe it

to the fact, that the ministries of the Church are regarded by the masses

merely as dignities, her offices as posts of emolument - in short, popular

religion may be summed up as respect for ecclesiastics. (26) The spread of

this misconception inflamed every worthless fellow with an intense desire

to enter holy orders, and thus the love of diffusing God's religion

degenerated into sordid avarice and ambition. (27) Every church became a

theatre, where orators, instead of church teachers, harangued, caring not to

instruct the people, but striving to attract admiration, to bring opponents to

public scorn, and to preach only novelties and paradoxes, such as would

tickle the ears of their congregation. (28) This state of things necessarily

stirred up an amount of controversy, envy, and hatred, which no lapse of

time could appease; so that we can scarcely wonder that of the old religion

nothing survives but its outward forms (even these, in the mouth of the

multitude, seem rather adulation than adoration of the Deity), and that

faith has become a mere compound of credulity and prejudices - aye,

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prejudices too, which degrade man from rational being to beast, which

completely stifle the power of judgment between true and false, which

seem, in fact, carefully fostered for the purpose of extinguishing the last

spark of reason! (29) Piety, great God! and religion are become a tissue of

ridiculous mysteries; men, who flatly despise reason, who reject and turn

away from understanding as naturally corrupt, these, I say, these of all

men, are thought, 0 lie most horrible! to possess light from on High. (30)

Verily, if they had but one spark of light from on High, they would not

insolently rave, but would learn to worship God more wisely, and would

be as marked among their fellows for mercy as they now are for malice; if

they were concerned for their opponents' souls, instead of for their own

reputations, they would no longer fiercely persecute, but rather be filled

with pity and compassion.

(31) Furthermore, if any Divine light were in them, it would appear

from their doctrine. (32) I grant that they are never tired of professing their

wonder at the profound mysteries of Holy Writ; still I cannot discover that

they teach anything but speculations of Platonists and Aristotelians, to

which (in order to save their credit for Christianity) they have made Holy

Writ conform; not content to rave with the Greeks themselves, they want

to make the prophets rave also; showing conclusively, that never even in

sleep have they caught a glimpse of Scripture's Divine nature. (33) The

very vehemence of their admiration for the mysteries plainly attests, that

their belief in the Bible is a formal assent rather than a living faith: and the

fact is made still more apparent by their laying down beforehand, as a

foundation for the study and true interpretation of Scripture, the principle

that it is in every passage true and divine. (34) Such a doctrine should be

reached only after strict scrutiny and thorough comprehension of the

Sacred Books (which would teach it much better, for they stand in need no

human factions), and not be set up on the threshold, as it were, of inquiry.

(35) As I pondered over the facts that the light of reason is not only

despised, but by many even execrated as a source of impiety, that human

commentaries are accepted as divine records, and that credulity is extolled

as faith; as I marked the fierce controversies of philosophers raging in

Church and State, the source of bitter hatred and dissension, the ready

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instruments of sedition and other ills innumerable, I determined to

examine the Bible afresh in a careful, impartial, and unfettered spirit,

making no assumptions concerning it, and attributing to it no doctrines,

which I do not find clearly therein set down. (36) With these precautions I

constructed a method of Scriptural interpretation, and thus equipped

proceeded to inquire - what is prophecy? (37) In what sense did God

reveal himself to the prophets, and why were these particular men - chosen

by him? (38) Was it on account of the sublimity of their thoughts about the

Deity and nature, or was it solely on account of their piety? (39) These

questions being answered, I was easily able to conclude, that the authority

of the prophets has weight only in matters of morality, and that their

speculative doctrines affect us little.

(40) Next I inquired, why the Hebrews were called God's chosen

people, and discovering that it was only because God had chosen for them

a certain strip of territory, where they might live peaceably and at ease, I

learnt that the Law revealed by God to Moses was merely the law of the

individual Hebrew state, therefore that it was binding on none but

Hebrews, and not even on Hebrews after the downfall of their nation. (41)

Further, in order to ascertain, whether it could be concluded from

Scripture, that the human understanding standing is naturally corrupt, I

inquired whether the Universal Religion, the Divine Law revealed through

the Prophets and Apostles to the whole human race, differs from that

which is taught by the light of natural reason, whether miracles can take

place in violation of the laws of nature, and if so, whether they imply the

existence of God more surely and clearly than events, which we

understand plainly and distinctly through their immediate natural causes.

(42) Now, as in the whole course of my investigation I found nothing

taught expressly by Scripture, which does not agree with our

understanding, or which is repugnant thereto, and as I saw that the

prophets taught nothing, which is not very simple and easily to be grasped

by all, and further, that they clothed their leaching in the style, and

confirmed it with the reasons, which would most deeply move the mind of

the masses to devotion towards God, I became thoroughly convinced, that

the Bible leaves reason absolutely free, that it has nothing in common with

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philosophy, in fact, that Revelation and Philosophy stand on different

footings. In order to set this forth categorically and exhaust the whole

question, I point out the way in which the Bible should be interpreted, and

show that all of spiritual questions should be sought from it alone, and not

from the objects of ordinary knowledge. (43) Thence I pass on to indicate

the false notions, which have from the fact that the multitude - ever prone

to superstition, and caring more for the shreds of antiquity for eternal

truths - pays homage to the Books of the Bible, rather than to the Word of

God. (44) I show that the Word of God has not been revealed as a certain

number of books, was displayed to the prophets as a simple idea of the

mind, namely, obedience to God in singleness of heart, and in the practice

of justice and charity; and I further point out, that this doctrine is set forth

in Scripture in accordance with the opinions and understandings of those,

among whom the Apostles and Prophets preached, to the end that men

might receive it willingly, and with their whole heart.

(45) Having thus laid bare the bases of belief, I draw the conclusion

that Revelation has obedience for its sole object, therefore, in purpose no

less than in foundation and method, stands entirely aloof from ordinary

knowledge; each has its separate province, neither can be called the

handmaid of the other.

(46) Furthermore, as men's habits of mind differ, so that some more

readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to

pray may move another only to scoff, I conclude, in accordance with what

has gone before, that everyone should be free to choose for himself the

foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged only by its fruits;

each would then obey God freely with his whole heart, while nothing

would be publicly honoured save justice and charity.

(47) Having thus drawn attention to the liberty conceded to everyone

by the revealed law of God, I pass on to another part of my subject, and

prove that this same liberty can and should be accorded with safety to the

state and the magisterial authority - in fact, that it cannot be withheld

without great danger to peace and detriment to the community.

(48) In order to establish my point, I start from the natural rights of the

individual, which are co-extensive with his desires and power, and from

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the fact that no one is bound to live as another pleases, but is the guardian

of his own liberty. (49) I show that these rights can only be transferred to

those whom we depute to defend us, who acquire with the duties of

defence the power of ordering our lives, and I thence infer that rulers

possess rights only limited by their power, that they are the sole guardians

of justice and liberty, and that their subjects should act in all things as they

dictate: nevertheless, since no one can so utterly abdicate his own power

of self-defence as to cease to be a man, I conclude that no one can be

deprived of his natural rights absolutely, but that subjects, either by tacit

agreement, or by social contract, retain a certain number, which cannot be

taken from them without great danger to the state.

(50) From these considerations I pass on to the Hebrew State, which I

describe at some length, in order to trace the manner in which Religion

acquired the force of law, and to touch on other noteworthy points. (51) I

then prove, that the holders of sovereign power are the depositories and

interpreters of religious no less than of civil ordinances, and that they

alone have the right to decide what is just or unjust, pious or impious;

lastly, I conclude by showing, that they best retain this right and secure

safety to their state by allowing every man to think what he likes, and say

what he thinks.

(52) Such, Philosophical Reader, are the questions I submit to your

notice, counting on your approval, for the subject matter of the whole

book and of the several chapters is important and profitable. (53) I would

say more, but I do not want my preface to extend to a volume, especially

as I know that its leading propositions are to Philosophers but common

places. (54) To the rest of mankind I care not to commend my treatise, for

I cannot expect that it contains anything to please them: I know how

deeply rooted are the prejudices embraced under the name of religion; I

am aware that in the mind of the masses superstition is no less deeply

rooted than fear; I recognize that their constancy is mere obstinacy, and

that they are led to praise or blame by impulse rather than reason. (55)

Therefore the multitude, and those of like passions with the multitude, I

ask not to read my book; nay, I would rather that they should utterly

neglect it, than that they should misinterpret it after their wont. (56) They

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ATheologico-PoliticalTreatise1ATheologico-PoliticalTreatiseATheologico-PoliticalTreatise2Part1-ChaptersItoVBaruchSpinozaATheologico-PoliticalTreatise3PREFACE.(1)Menwouldneverbesuperstitious,iftheycouldgovernalltheircircumstancesbysetrules,oriftheywerealwaysfavouredbyfortune:butbeingfrequentlydriveni...

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