The murder of Spinoza and other 17th century alchemists: A contemporary look at a long-ago mortificatio tale

This dissertation is a theoretical work, using a hermeneutic method to discuss the psycho-historical significance of Baruch Spinoza's relationship with alchemy. Typical assessments and criticisms of scientific thinking traced back to the 17th century accuse Newton and Descartes of sprinting Western thinking down a thorny path separating mind from body. Historians describe a time in the 17th century when the world experienced a momentous scientific paradigm shift. This was a time when it is believed that the Western concept of a mind-body or spirit-matter split emerged as the leading scientific paradigm. Whereas historians and philosophers have described prolific development in this period of far-reaching exploration, they have neglected to include a significant area of study that influences both science and depth psychology: alchemy.; This study argues that the study of alchemy played a considerable role in developing major scientific theories. Alchemy interrelates religion, matter, spirit, and soul. The study explores how a separatio between body, soul, and spirit takes place within the context of an alchemical notion of the world. It draws on Jung's (1967) view of the spirit-soul-body triumvirate that was prevalent during the Middle Ages, a view which is evident in his discussion spiritus mundi. The study is an alternative look through a depth-psychological lens at events that occurred around the time of the 17th century that influenced our scientific evolution. It demonstrates how alchemy was studied by thinkers such as Baruch Spinoza, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, and numerous other scientists, a fact that has been largely ignored except in the esoteric science literature.; There is evidence that there was a truly archetypal split in alchemical studies that mirrored the separatio of the Magnum Opus. Depth psychology opens up an entirely new perspective for looking at these events. In the course of employing the hermeneutic method, alchemy as both a material and spiritual-psychological phenomenon are defined and reflected upon. The Scientific Revolution and its bridge between medieval thinking and modern science is examined. Science and its unconscious search for God are discussed within the context of Jung's writing on the God-image. The elders and their place in guiding young scientists also emerged as a theme of the work. Finally, my own alchemical experience of a rather remarkable year concretized the spiritual-alchemical world with the material world in which I reside. As I write in my final chapter, this journey with alchemy, Spinoza, Newton, and science is not complete, just concluded for the moment.