Lesauvage, Nicole:
Révélation et lumières naturelle chez Spinoza

2016. - Paris : Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I

Literature type: Monographs
Language: French
Thematic areas: Ethics, Theology / biblical hermeneutics / philosophy of religion, Miscellaneous
Subject: E, TTP

English commentary: "Ethic purports to lead us, as if by the band, towards beatitude and salvation. It shows us the way which allows us, by associating as much as possible our affects to real ideas, to attain true knowledge and the love of God. Whom does “Ethics” address ? Our hypothesis is that it addresses the same readers as the “Theologico-Political Treatise” does, who would philosophize more f eely would they not be prevented from it by the thought that reason should serve theology. After having shown that scripture should be interpreted before being claimed God's word, that prophetic certainty was just moral certainty, Spinoza offers the mathematical certainty of understanding, as the true word of God which speaks directly to our soul ; God who becomes known not as a transcendental God but as an immanent God, efficient cause of all things and thus of our ideas, distinct and clear, which shall allow us to discover a God which acts feely out of necessity of nature, in outright opposition to the scholastic and Cartesian doctrines. This rational revelation nonetheless does not cancel the prophetic revelation, which truth isn't in speculation, but in moral teachings, and especially by in Christ's message of love, model of true life. But if the ultimate goal of each of the revelations is to enjoy the love of God, what is in each of them the nature of this love?" (abstract).

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