Sophie's World: If this is Tuesday, it must be Spinoza

Abstract

Introduction:  The history of philosophy is like a town. Walking around in it, we can meet philosophers from the past at any corner. Despite the distances in time, we feel their presence. Without any hesitation we cross the barriers of ages, languages and cultures; we listen to Socrates, Spinoza and Freud on the same afternoon. Afterwards we may wonder what it was that Spinoza had to say to us. We should know, as Spinoza is on the list of "what every American needs to know" (the subtitle of E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy, 1987). Yes, he is on the list, between the Sphinx and the Spirit of St. Louis. So we should know something about him. Let us say: "Spinoza was a strong determinist and believed in an unshakeable logical necessity". That is the one-liner that the author of Bluffyour way in Philosophy [1985] suggests you use. It is easy enough to memorize and it sounds like any literate American could understand it. But this is cardboard understanding in a cardboard town.