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21. - Van Blijenbergh, Willem (1632–1696)

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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Willem van Blijenbergh was a Dutch grain broker who had authored a work condemning atheism and defending revealed religion in 1663, a year before beginning his correspondence with Spinoza. After reading Spinoza’s DPP and CM, he wrote and raised many awkward questions. The correspondence between the two men amounts to eight letters, four from each (Ep18–24, Ep27). Some commentators have suggested that Blijenbergh was obtuse. Although he surely was a frustrating interlocutor (Spinoza’s final letter, requesting him to desist from further correspondence, is a study in polite forbearance), contemporary scholars arguably should be grateful for his dogged persistence which resulted in Spinoza offering uncharacteristically detailed expositions of his views on the problem of evil, free will, sin, and the nature of God. Of course, these four topics are intimately interrelated, as these letters so brilliantly demonstrate.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Deleuze, G. (1988). Letters on evil. In Deleuze, Spinoza: Practical Philosophy, trans. R. Hurley. City Lights.Google Scholar
Hübner, K. (2015). Spinoza on essences, universals, and beings of reason. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 97(1), 5888.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sangiacomo, A. (2020). Spinoza on Reason, Passions and the Supreme Good. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

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