No Cheating! A Spinozistic Reading of Early Modern Metaphysics

FAIN: FEL-273126-21

Samuel Newlands
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)

Research and writing leading to publication of a book on Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s (1632-1677) influence on the development of early modern metaphysics.

Spinoza was widely regarded as a dangerous philosopher by his fellow 17th century early moderns. In No Cheating! A Spinozistic Reading of Early Modern Metaphysics, I offer a new account of the philosophical threat of Spinozism by showing how central views in early modern metaphysics tended toward Spinozistic conclusions in significant ways. From Spinoza’s vantage point, early moderns responded to this threat by cheating: they fail to follow through on their own principles solely for the sake of avoiding Spinozistic conclusions. Even worse, their blocking maneuvers lead to metaphysical views that are less philosophically stable than the dreaded alternative. Such cheating isn’t just unseemly—it is philosophically costly. In addition to shedding fresh light on the power and scope of Spinoza’s own philosophical vision, this project helps us better understand alternative early modern views by seeing their pressure points and possible defenses from this Spinozistic perspective.

Associated Products

Regis's Sweeping and Costly Anti-Spinozism (Article)
Title: Regis's Sweeping and Costly Anti-Spinozism
Author: Samuel Newlands
Abstract: Pierre-Sylvain Regis, once a well-known defender of Cartesianism, offers an unusually rich and innovative refutation of Spinoza. While many of his early modern contemporaries raised narrower objections to particular claims in Spinoza’s Ethics, Regis develops a broader anti-Spinozistic position, one that threatens the very core of Spinoza’s metaphysical ambitions and offers a philosophically robust alternative. However, as with any far-reaching philosophical commitment, Regis’s gambit comes with substantive costs of its own, including creating instabilities within the core of his own philosophical system. Far from diminishing the significance of Regis’s anti-Spinozism, this critical appraisal helps us better appreciate both the conceptual pull of Spinozism within early modern metaphysics and one sweeping, albeit costly way of escaping its orbit.
Year: 2022
Access Model: Subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of the History of Philosophy
Publisher: Journal of the History of Philosophy

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