Spinoza – an early peacemaker

“Peace is not the absence of war. Peace is a virtue, a state of mind, an inclination towards goodness, trust, justice.”

As part of my interest in peacemaking processes and personalities, I received this email from a reader. The above quote from Baruch de Spinoza, born 1632 in Amsterdam, died 1677 in The Hague, inspired me to find out more about this philosopher. He was banished from his Jewish community at the age of 23, cursed and cast out because he dared to question Jewish religious traditions, as he considered an uncritical approach to them to be an obstacle to a serious search for knowledge. As he remained true to his view of the free-thinking individual throughout his life, he had to accept a life in precarious circumstances. This did not prevent him from developing and writing his philosophical work “Etica.”

His findings are incredibly current, especially with regard to the democratic state and its task. Here are two very vivid and thought-provoking quotes:

“A state can only exist in the long term if it respects the needs of the people. They are free to think, to form their own opinions and to arrive at judgments that are quite contrary to what is written in the Bible or what politicians consider appropriate.”

“It is not the purpose of the state to turn people from rational beings into animals or automatons, but rather to ensure that their minds and bodies can develop their powers safely, that they themselves can use their reason freely and that they do not fight each other with anger, hatred and deceit, nor are they hostile towards each other. The purpose of the state is in truth freedom.”

This audio by Daniela Remus, from which the last two quotations are also taken, provides a very comprehensible overview of Spinoza’s life, work and thought (the video is only available in German).