Iviii INTRODUCTION Spinoza seems to have acted as teacher or leader of a small philosophical circle. Its members, including Spinoza him self, were primarily interested in religious questions at first. They approached philosophy from the side of religion, and only in so far as religious problems led up to philosophical considerations. God and His attributes, Nature and Crea tion, Man and his Well-being, the nature of the Human Mind and the Immortality of the Soul — these were the topics which chiefly interested them, and on which, we may assume, Spinoza had accumulated various notes for those informal talks with them. These notes he wanted to elaborate and to systematise. This was the first task which occupied him at Rijnsburg, and it resulted in the Short Treatise on God, Man and his Well-being. But he continued to keep in touch with his Amsterdam friends and sent them the parts of the manuscript as he completed them. Though Cartesian in appearance, and partly also in substance, the Short Treatise, Spinoza's very first philosophical essay, already marks a definite departure from the philosophy of Descartes, in its identification of God with Nature, and its consequent determinism and naturalism. Spinoza himself fully realised the extent of his deviation from Descartes, and the novelty of his views even as compared with the novelties of Cartesianism, which was at that time " the new philo sophy " par excellence. So he begged his friends not to be impatient with his novel views, but to consider them carefully, remembering that "a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many." He also realised that some of these views were liable to prove rather dangerous to minds more eager for novelty than for truth. He was therefore careful about the kind of people to whom he communicated his views, and also begged his trusted friends to be careful likewise. Caution was also necessary on account of the unremitting vigilance of heretic-hunters.
[Conclusion of Spinoza's letter to Oldenburg. October 1661. S« p. cxxiii.]
THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixi "As the character of the age in which we live [Spinoza adds] is not unknown to you, I would beg of you most earnestly to be very careful about the communication of these things to others. I do not want to say that you should absolutely keep them to yourselves, but only that if ever you wish to communicate them to others, then you shall have no other object in view except only the happiness of your neighbour; being at the same time clearly assured that the reward of your labour will not disappoint you therein."
Having finished the first draft of his Short Treatise Spinoza felt that he had attacked all the great problems of religion and of philosophy, without any preliminary account of the requirements of philosophic method, without any adequate justification of his own mode of treatment. To this problem, accordingly, he turned his attention next, and began his Treatise on the Improvement of the Under standing. In a letter dated October 1661, in reply to some questions of Henry Oldenburg, Spinoza states that he had written a complete little treatise on the origin of things, and their relation to the first cause, and also on the improvement of the understanding, and that he was actually busy just then copying and correcting it. It would appear from this that Spinoza's intention at that time may have been to combine the Short Treatise and the Treatise on the Improve ment of the Understanding. What actually happened, how ever, is not quite certain. The editors of Spinoza's posthumous works only had a fragment of the Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding, and apparently nothing of the Short Treatise, of which we only possess at present two Dutch versions, discovered about 1860. The editors of the Opera Posthuma say that the Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding was one of Spinoza's earliest works, and that he had never finished it, but they appear to be uncertain whether it was only want of time or the inherent difficulties of the subject which prevented him from finishing it.
Ixii INTRODUCTION In the meantime Spinoza seems to have acquired some reputation not only with the Rijnsburgers but even among some of the professors at Leyden. This may have been due to his participation in the Collegiant Conferences held at Rijnsburg. These conferences for the discussion of religious questions were open to all who cared to come. And some of the students from the neighbouring University at Leyden made a practice of attending these meetings and taking part in the debates. Some of them very likely came there for fun, though others, no doubt, had worthier motives. It was in this way that Spinoza came into touch with, among others, Johannes Casearius and the brothers Adriaan and Johannes Koerbagh, of whom more will be said anon. And in this way also Spinoza's name and history may have become known to some of the Leyden professors, among them Johannes Coccejus, professor of theology, famous as the author of the first standard Hebrew dictionary, and even more so as the author of the dictum that an interpreter of the Scriptures should approach his task with a mind free from all dogmatic prejudices — the dictum which helped to bring about a kind of alliance between the Remonstrants and the Cartesians, to which reference has already been made. Now Coccejus was a native of Bremen, and when his countryman Henry Oldenburg visited Leyden in 1661, eager as usual to make the acquaintance of everybody who was remarkable in any way, Coccejus may have suggested to him a visit to Spinoza. Possibly Oldenburg had also heard something about Spinoza from Huygens, who was in correspondence with the English scientists among whom Oldenburg had moved, had actually visited London that very year, and may have met Oldenburg at one of the meetings of the " Gresham College," which was soon to blossom into the " Royal Society." At all events, in July 1661 Oldenburg visited Spinoza in Rijnsburg.
THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixiii Henry Oldenburg, as already remarked, was a native of Bremen, where he was born about 1620. During the war between England and Holland which followed Cromwell's enforcement of the Navigation Act, in 1651, the shipowners of Bremen seem to have suffered. It was therefore decided to send an envoy to make representations to Cromwell con cerning the neutrality of Bremen. Accordingly in 1653 Henry Oldenburg was entrusted with this diplomatic mis sion, which brought him into touch with Milton, who was then Latin Secretary to the Council, and other eminent Englishmen of the time. For some reason he remained in England after the conclusion of his mission, staying in Oxford in 1656, and acting as private tutor to various young gentlemen, including Boyle's nephew, Richard Jones, with whom he travelled in France, Germany, and Italy, during the years 1657-1660, attending the most important academies of science, and becoming acquainted with the great lights of the scientific world. During his stay in Oxford, Olden burg had been associated with the leading spirits of the " Invisible College," a society for the discussion of scientific problems. There was a similar society in London, the "Gresham College." With the Restoration of Charles II., in 1660, it was decided to apply for a Charter for the formation of a " Royal Society " to carry on the work of these two societies, and an acting secretary was required to undertake the work of organisation, &c. Just then Olden burg returned from his continental tour, and his wide reading and extensive knowledge of men and matters marked him out as just the man for the post, for which he was accordingly nominated. In the following year, 1661, Oldenburg had occasion to visit his native town, Bremen, and on his return journey via Holland, he visited Leyden (among other places), and thence Rijnsburg, where, as already mentioned, he had a long interview with Spinoza. The subject discussed on that occasion and the impres- Ixiv INTRODUCTION sion which Spinoza made on Oldenburg may be gathered from the following letter which Oldenburg wrote to Spinoza immediately after his return to London, in August 1661. " It was with such reluctance [he writes] that I tore myself away from your side, when I recently visited you in your retreat at Rijnsburg, that no sooner am I back in England than I already try to join you again, at least as far as this can be effected by means of correspondence. Solid learn ing combined with kindliness and refinement (wherewith Nature and Study have most richly endowed you) have such an attraction that they win the love of all noble and liberally educated men. Let us, therefore, most excellent sir, give each other the right hand of unfeigned friendship, and cultivate it diligently by every kind of attention and service. Whatever service my humble powers can render, consider as yours. And permit me to claim a part of those intellectual gifts which you possess, if I may do so without detriment to you. Our conversation at Rijnsburg turned on God, infinite Extension and Thought, on the difference and the agreement between these attributes, on the nature of the union of the human soul with the body; and further, on the Principles of the Cartesian and the Baconian Philo sophy. But as we then discussed themes of such moment only at a distance, as it were, and cursorily, and as all those things have since then been lying heavily on my mind, I now venture to claim the right of our new friendship to ask you affectionately to explain to me somewhat more fully your views on the above-mentioned subjects, and not to mind enlightening me, more especially on these two points, namely, first, what do you consider to be the true distinc tion between Extension and Thought; secondly, what defects do you observe in the Philosophy of Descartes and of Bacon, and how, do you think, might they be eliminated, and replaced by something more sound? The more freely you write to me about these and the like, the more closely THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixv will you bind me to yourself, and the greater will be my obligation to render similar services, if at all possible." The letter concludes with a promise to send Spinoza a volume of scientific essays by Robert Boyle, between whom and Spinoza, Oldenburg subsequently acted as a kind of intermediary.
It is not at all clear what kind of an introduction Olden burg had to Spinoza, or, indeed, whether he had any introduction at all. And Spinoza was neither so loquacious nor so indiscreet as to unburden his whole mind to a stranger. But he had evidently treated Oldenburg un grudgingly and with his wonted courtesy, and Oldenburg's letter is certainly very remarkable for its tone of generous appreciation — all the more remarkable because he was con siderably older than Spinoza, and had been befriended by so many of the intellectual giants of that period, while Spinoza was apparently an obscure outcast.
It is noteworthy that Spinoza's conversation with Olden burg turned on Bacon and Descartes. This is not surprising, for Spinoza was at that time (1661) very much occupied with the question of philosophical method, and the two alternatives which he must have been carefully weighing against each other were the empirical, inductive method of Bacon, and the deductive, geometric method of Descartes. This was the very problem with which he was then grap pling in his Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding, as we gather from his subsequent reply to Oldenburg, which has already been cited above. Spinoza ultimately sided with Descartes, in favour of the geometric method. He felt that the deductive method was the right one in philosophy, and that the best form of exposition was that exemplified in Euclid's geometry. This had already been urged, and, to some extent, also illustrated by Descartes; and Spinoza also now tried a similar experiment by casting one of the chapters of his Short Treatise into geometric form, consti- Ixvi INTRODUCTION tuting what is now its First Appendix. Soon afterwards he was occupied even more with Descartes, and tried a much more extensive experiment in the application of the geometric method.
In 1662, possibly in the winter of 1661-2, Johannes Casearius, a student of Theology at the University of Leyden, came to stay in Rijnsburg, and lived in the same house with Spinoza, who agreed to help him with the study of philosophy. Casearius was only about nineteen then, apparently rather immature and fickle-minded, more devoted to novelty than to truth. He proved to be very trying to Spinoza, and caused him some anxiety. Still, Spinoza had faith in the youth's good qualities, which only required a little time to mature and assert themselves. And the subsequent history of Casearius confirmed Spinoza's antici pations. In the meantime, however, Spinoza had to be cautious in the treatment of his pupil. What Casearius no doubt wanted of Spinoza was, that he should expound to him the newest philosophy. This generally meant Carte- sianism then. Spinoza had something newer than that, and Casearius may have got some inkling of this, and came to him for that reason. But Spinoza did not think it good for one of his youth and temper. He therefore decided to teach him the essentials of the scholastic metaphysics as then taught at most of the universities, but to combine with it a good deal of his own criticism, and also to substitute altogether the Cartesian for the older physics. He had probably pursued a very similar course with his previous pupils in Amsterdam. But being convinced by this time that the geometric method was the most persuasive method of imparting knowledge, he turned the Second Part and a portion of the Third Part of Descartes' Principia into geometric form.
In the meanwhile, Spinoza had been growing discontented with his Short Treatise. For a time he probably tried to THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixvii bring it into line with the continuous advance of his thought by means of modifications and additional notes. Finding, however, that he could wield the geometric method of exposition so well, he seems to have decided to start afresh, and to do for his own philosophy what he had already done, in a measure, for the philosophy of Descartes. In short, he commenced his Ethics, and early in the follow ing year, 1663, a part, if not the whole, of the First Book of the Ethics was already in the hands of his Amsterdam friends.
By that time, however, Spinoza was already preparing to leave Rijnsburg. He had been there about three years then. Most likely they were his happiest years. They were certainly among his most fruitful years. But one of the reasons which had brought him there also drove him away now. He had come there so as to be able to work quietly, undisturbed by friend or foe. And for the first two years or so his hopes were realised. But gradually, as his circle of friends and acquaintances extended, more and more of his time was taken up by them, and taken away from his work. He therefore decided to remove from there to Voorburg, near the Hague. He left Rijnsburg in April 1663, but, before going to Voorburg, he wanted to see his old friends again, and went accordingly to Amsterdam, where he stayed about two months. While on this visit to Amsterdam he showed to his friends his Euclidean version of Descartes' Principia, Part II. Jarig Jelles, Lodewijk Meyer, and other Cartesian friends of his thereupon per suaded him to do the same with the first part of the Principia. He did so in a fortnight, and consented to their publication, together with his own Metaphysical Thoughts, on condition that Meyer revised the whole work, improving its phrase ology where necessary, and adding a preface to explain that Spinoza was far from being in entire agreement with the Cartesian philosophy, even as thus moulded in the Euclidean Ixviii INTRODUCTION mould. This was readily done, and the work appeared soon afterwards. It was published by Rieuwertsz; Meyer wrote the Preface; and this was followed by a poem, Ad Librum, composed by J[ohannes] B[ouwmeister], M.D., Meyer's " oldest and best friend." It was the only book to appear in Spinoza's lifetime with his name on it. Spinoza (it should be noted at once here) had no delusions about the absolute cogency of the geometric method. For in his very first publication he expounded and defended more geometrico a system of philosophy with which he did not agree.
In June 1663 Spinoza arrived in Voorburg and took up his lodgings in the Kerklaan, at the house of a painter whose name was Daniel Tydemann. Though little more than half an hour's walk from the Hague, the village of Voorburg was at that time almost as isolated as Rijnsburg, and there were times when it took Spinoza a week and more to get a letter to or from the Hague. During the next two years or so he was busily at work on his Ethics. But he found time also to keep up a fairly extensive correspondence with old friends, to make new friends, and to pay occasional visits to other towns. In the winter of 1663-4 ne returned to Rijnsburg for about two months; in the following winter (1664-5) he seems to have visited either the sister or the brother of Simon de Vries, at Schiedam; in the following April (i665)he visited his old friends in Amsterdam; he also made frequent excursions to the Hague, where he was wont to stay with a certain Mesach Tydemann, possibly a brother of his Voorburg landlord.
If Spinoza found Voorburg rather lonely at first, conditions changed soon enough, so that he complained that he was scarcely his own master, so much of his time was taken up THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixix by callers. Of the people with whom he associated more or less during his stay in Voorburg the most interesting were Vossius the philologist, subsequently Canon of Windsor (who probably consulted Spinoza on subjects relating to the Hebrew language and literature, much as his father, Gerhard Vossius, used to consult Manasseh ben Israel), Christian Huygens, Hudde, van Beuningen, and Jan de Witt.
Christian Huygens, the discoverer of Saturn's rings, inven tor of the pendulum clock, and originator of the undulatory theory of light, was living within easy walking distance of Spinoza during the years 1664-6, and the two saw a good deal of one another during that period. Both of them were keenly interested in the making and improvement of lenses, and this common interest formed their chief or only bond. In character the two men were very unlike. Spinoza was generous and without reserve in imparting whatever know ledge he possessed and which might be of service to others; Huygens, on the other hand, was stinting and ever on his guard lest his trade secrets should leak out. In his letters to his brothers, Huygens refers to Spinoza as I'Israelite, le Juif de Voorburg, or noire Juif, asks his brother to inform him of Spinoza's doings, but urges him to keep from him a certain optical secret lest Hudde and others should get to hear of it through him. To strangers, no doubt, he spoke with greater respect of Spinoza. To Tschirnhaus, for instance, he remarked some years later (1675) that he had a great regard for Spinoza.
It was probably through Huygens that Spinoza got to know Johan Hudde. Hudde was Burgomaster of Amster dam, and a member of the States of Holland, in which capacity he had frequent occasion to visit the Hague, which was the seat of government. He was, moreover, a man of a scientific bent of mind, which prompted him to take up the art of grinding lenses, which in those days seems to have been a fashionable hobby, not unlike present-day photo- Ixx INTRODUCTION graphy. This interest in lenses may have led to his seeking and making the acquaintance of Huygens, and; through him, of Spinoza. We have just seen how anxious Christian Huygens was lest Hudde should learn from Spinoza more than Huygens cared that he should know. Hudde, more over, unlike Huygens, was also keenly interested in problems of religious philosophy, and we still have three letters which Spinoza addressed to him on the subject of God's unity. Hudde very likely introduced Spinoza to some of his friends in the political sphere, and was, no doubt, instrumental in procuring for Spinoza that protection and patronage the desire for which was possibly one of the chief reasons why Spinoza had come to live near the Hague.
When Spinoza gave his consent to the publication of his version of Descartes' Principia, he had a special object in view. This object he explained clearly in his letter to Olden burg, in the latter part of July 1663. " It may be [he writes] that on this occasion some of those who occupy the highest posts in my fatherland may be found desirous of seeing my other writings, which I do acknowledge as expressing my views; they will then enable me to publish them without any risk of violating the civil law. Should this, indeed, occur, then I shall, no doubt, publish something immediately; but if not, then I will rather be silent than obtrude my opinions on men against the wishes of my country, and so incur their hostility." What exactly Spinoza meant to publish imme diately is not quite certain — possibly the Short Treatise, more likely the first book of his Ethics, or the whole of it which he may have hoped to complete in the near future.
At all events it is clear that Spinoza was anxious to enlist the sympathy of some of those who held the reins of government, and Hudde was just the man to help him. He probably introduced him to Coenraad van Beuningen, an ex- Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and sometime diplomatic envoy of the Netherlands at the Courts of France and THE LIFE OF SPINOZA Ixxi Sweden. Van Beuningen was friendly towards the Jews, and when Louis XIV. remarked to him that it was scandalous that the Dutch should tolerate the Jews, he replied: " Is not the fact that God himself has not destroyed them a proof that He wants them to be tolerated in the world? And since all other countries expel them, and yet they must live somewhere, it cannot be ungodly that Amsterdam at least should receive them." But most important of all was Spinoza's introduction to Jan de Witt, the Grand Pen sionary of Holland, of whom more will be said presently.
Spinoza was gradually being drawn into the turbulent current of contemporary politics. In the meantime, how ever, he was making progress with his Ethics, receiving calls from old friends and distinguished strangers, and corre sponding with all sorts and conditions.
Oldenburg's first letter to Spinoza, which was cited above, was followed by a cordial and regular correspondence. The Royal Society, of which Oldenburg was the acting secretary, had (as Spinoza was duly informed) received its royal charter from Charles II. in 1662, and was going full sail on its course of scientific exploration. Its ambition was nothing less than (to use Oldenburg's bold phrase) " to take the whole universe to task," and its versatile cosmopolitan secretary spared no pains to publish its doings to the world, and to gather all the latest scientific news and gossip from the four corners of the earth. Spinoza thus heard from Oldenburg all that was done in England for the advancement of science, also frequent kind messages from Robert Boyle, who, how ever, never condescended to write himself to the "odd philosopher," though he sent him his writings and invited his criticisms, and replied to them through Oldenburg. Spinoza also sent what news he could, especially about Huygens. Occasionally we hear echoes of contemporary events in other than purely scientific spheres. Oldenburg complains about the Plague which was raging in London Ixxii INTRODUCTION