Of Prophecy and Piety: Spinoza’s <i>Tractatus Theologico-Politicus</i> between al-Farabî and Erasmus

• Main Author: Michiel Leezenberg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Philosophies
• Subjects: Spinoza; Jewish philosophy; Islamic philosophy; prophecy; spiritual exercises
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/6/2/51

In this contribution, I discuss some less well-known premodern and early modern antecedents of Spinoza’s concepts and claims in the <i>Tractatus Theologico-Politicus</i>. On the one hand, I will argue, Spinoza’s notion of prophecy owes more to Moses Maimonides than to any Christian author; and through Maimonides, Spinoza may be linked to the discussion of prophecy in <i>The Virtuous City</i> by the tenth-century Islamic philosopher al-Farabî. Spinoza’s concern with prophecy as a popular formulation of the Divine Law may be fruitfully seen in the light of these two authors. On the other hand, Spinoza’s notion of <i>pietas</i> has arguably been shaped by a number of early modern authors from the Low Countries, including Thomas a Kempis and Erasmus: it does not consist in merely obeying the law, but also has a clear devotional and theist dimension of love for God and for one’s neighbors. As such, it may be associated with recent ideas on philosophy and spiritual exercises. These findings have a number of non-trivial implications for Spinoza’s place in the rise of modern, academic Western philosophy. I will discuss these implications in the context of Pierre Hadot’s influential views on philosophy as a way of life and Michel Foucault’s notion of spirituality.