On Spinoza’s Political Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is not only a problem of epistemology and methodology,but also a practical and political problem.Contemporary western hermeneutics has a tendency to transform to practical philosophy,which includes concern for ethics and politics,which is also the requirement for hermeneutics to fully realize its universality.It can be said that the “Political hermeneutics” is necessary to put forward.Political hermeneutics means that in the process of understanding and common understanding,through political interpretation,it consciously assume the concern about the choice and pursuit of "good" in people’s life.In a narrow sense,political hermeneutics means the interpretation and interpretation of texts from a political perspective;in a broad sense,political hermeneutics should include all hermeneutics with practical attributes and take the "good" of practical philosophy as the target.In short,political hermeneutics is characterized by the pursuit of the “good” and the realization of the understanding and interpretation of texts and the reflection on such understanding and interpretation.The pursuit of the “good” is the goal of Political hermeneutics.Based on this perspective,Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise undoubtedly belongs to Political hermeneutics,and its political interpretation of the Bible can be divided into two parts: theoretical reflection and practical application.Reflecting on the principles and methods of interpreting the Bible reveals the theoretical significance of its political hermeneutics,and applying these reflections to the political interpretation of the Bible reveals the practical significance of its political hermeneutics.In the stage of theoretical reflection,Spinoza put forward the principle that "the knowledge of the Bible can only be obtained from the Bible",which corresponds to the scientific,rational and historical critical methods.By studying Spinoza’s principles and methods of interpreting the scriptures,this paper concludes that the knowledge of divine law has an absolute advantage over the knowledge of divine revelation in terms of epistemology and methodology,which leads us to the practical application of Spinoza’s political hermeneutics.In the stage of practical application,Spinoza made a political interpretation of divine revelation and divine law knowledge,criticized the irrational superstition and theocracy,and illustrated the origin of modern state power by taking the contract spirit of the Bible as an example,and expressed his yearning for a republic that could contain freedom and equality.In a word,Spinoza’s hermeneutic theory takes the Religious Reformation and the Enlightenment as the background,and his understanding and interpretation of the Bible include the spirit of political interpretation and rationalism,and the worship of reason and the pursuit of "good" run through the whole of its Political hermeneutics.