On The Duality Of Spinoza’ Thought

Baruch de Spinoza is a philosopher of the17th Century. Meanwhile, he is also a Jew excommunicated by his community. His whole life, the whole doctrine and even ideological influence, during his life and beyond, are too hard to be commented consistently in today’s system. Contradictory views at the surface consist simultaneously in Spinoza’s theoretical system. Therefore, the "duality" may be a most accurate description of his thoughts.Chapter One is a brief overview of the Jewish history in Diaspora, developments of Judaism in European society, and Dutch’s political, economic and religious and cultural environment in the17th-century, to show an all-round Spinoza in history.Chapter Two traces multiple sources of Spinoza’s thoughts, which interwinds with vanward and traditional ideas, with emphases on the interaction between two factors. The sources of Spinoza’s thoughts are full of intertwined contradictions, the impact of the dip in the Jewish tradition of from childhood can not be ignored, and a group of radical Jewish"heresy" around him slowly shake his original faith.Chapter Three elaborates interlacing of divinity and rationality in Spinoza’s thoughts, and his connotation of theological, thinking that triggered a huge controversy, through Spinoza’s view of God, the criticism of the Bible and his views on faith as well as his personal belief with some discussion of the distinguishable division of divinity and rational, which reaches a harmonious unity of his criticism of religion and his pursuit of reasonChapter Four focuses on the ideological influence of Spinoza by a discussion of the change of the image from a dead dog to a saint, a concentrated expression of the ideological duality. It will also explore the Spinoza’s influence on later thoughts and the transition from a Jewish traitor to the spirit of the symbol.The conclusion is to infect the readers with Spinoza’s noble sentiments as a "moral saint", who goes for the real unity of emotion and reason, and gets rid of the outer slavery. It is essential to accept the tradition and treat emerging thoughts with open mind,...