Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher: "I have sought not to laugh at human actions, nor to deplore or hate them, but to understand them"

Baruch Spinoza, the Dutch philosopher of infinity and freedom of thought, is considered one of the great representatives of modern rationalism of the seventeenth century. His conception of human beings and the nature of decisions remain relevant even three centuries after his death. Born in Amsterdam on November 24, 1632, he died at the age of 44 in The Hague, west of the Netherlands, on February 21, 1677. In his work "Theological-Political Treatise" (1670), published anonymously, he was one of his most revolutionary texts. In those pages, he exposed a criticism of the biblical text and defended the freedom to philosophize as an essential pillar for the peace of the state, which is why he was censored and prohibited. "Ethics demonstrated according to the geometric order" (1677), his masterpiece, was published posthumously with the structure of a mathematical treatise. Through definitions and axioms, he exposed his entire moral theory. The "Political Treatise" (1677) was his last work and remained unfinished due to his death, but in the fragments he wrote, he deepened the institutional structures and the organization of the republican state. He wrote in Latin, but his prose was pleasant and sought universal understanding. "Sed sedulo curavi, humanas actiones non deridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere" is one of the phrases that immortalized in his first work. "I have sought not to laugh at human actions, nor to scorn them or hate them, but to understand them," would be the closest translation to Spanish of that phrase. The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza As a good exponent of determinism and human nature, Spinoza considered that human actions are not arbitrary or "bad" by nature, but the result of necessary causes. Spinoza maintained that human passions, emotions, and behaviors are subject to the same laws of cause and effect that govern any other phenomenon of the universe. He criticized philosophers and theologians who dedicated their time to satirizing or condemning human weaknesses and proposed adopting an analytical and as impartial as possible stance. As a scientist would, he thought that philosophers should study human emotions and decisions without moral prejudices, seeking only their explanatory causes. In the full Baroque period, he postulated the deconstruction of dualism, which implied overcoming the Cartesian division between mind and body. From censorship to reivindication Few thinkers shook political and philosophical orders as Spinoza did. He broke with the schemes that prevailed in the era and his influence was vital for great philosophers such as Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. Spinoza's texts were included in the Index of Prohibited Books of the Catholic Church in 1679. His work circulated clandestinely and was reivindicated by other great German philosophers in the early nineteenth century. The notion of "God" for him did not refer to a being endowed with omnipotence that defined Him as "a substance that encompasses all that is real, everything that exists." Spinoza's concept of God is related to the necessary and eternal order of what he called "the infinite substance." In his philosophy there is no dualism: soul and body are not separate entities, but rather one and the same thing, but viewed from different perspectives. In other words, soul and body are two different attributes of the same substance. The Dutch thinker proposed a hermeneutic or interpretive method for the Bible within the limits of a rationality and denied any glimmer of miracle, as he considered that the sacred is within physical reality. He conceived reason as a vital instrument for achieving happiness. In this line of thought, ethics is based on a deep understanding of human nature and the universe. Personal well-being, according to pantheistic philosophy For Spinoza, personal well-being does not depend on avoiding suffering, but on an adequate understanding of the natural laws and the ability to align with them. He proposed contemplating our actions and feelings as if they were lines, with the intention that they cross the cold current of argumentation and the warm current of passions, so that between them they build a reasoning that culminates in happiness. By acquiring a greater understanding of the natural laws that govern our minds and emotions, he ensured that we can transform those passions into more constructive feelings: love, joy, and serenity. Reason in Spinoza's ethics is the means that allows human beings to free themselves from being slaves to their own passions. The goal of that "Theological-Political Treatise" was to defend free thought. He proposed that everyone should "worship God according to their own judgment," as he did not consider religion and freedom to be opposites; he even believed that religion, like reason, impart common teachings of charity, justice, and love for one another. With that postulate, Spinoza tried to refute those who accused him of atheism and promoted a state that allowed freedom in the way that "everyone may think what they want and say what they think." See also Clarín Newsletter I received all the news, stories, and analyses from the journalists of Clarín in your mail I WANT TO RECEIVE IT