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20. - Blessedness

from B

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Leonardo Moauro  and
Donald Rutherford
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Blessedness (beatitudo) is Spinoza’s highest ethical ideal (E4app4, E5p42) and specifying the conditions for its attainment is the primary goal of the Ethics (E2pref, E5pref). In Spinoza’s philosophy, as in biblical theology, blessedness is related to a cluster of concepts: the love of God (E5p42d, TTP4[14]), salvation (E5p36s, TTP7[1]), and true peace of mind (E4p42s, TTP5[8]). In this respect, philosophy and theology have a common end, though Spinoza emphasizes important differences in their accounts of how blessedness is achieved (TTP15[22, 34, 44]).

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 50 - 51
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Carlisle, C. (2021). Spinoza’s Religion. Princeton University Press. Chapters 5–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeBuffe, M. (2010). From Bondage to Freedom: Spinoza on Human Excellence. Oxford University Press. Chapter 12.Google Scholar
Rutherford, D. (1999). Salvation as a state of mind: The place of acquiescentia in Spinoza’s Ethics. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 7(3), 447–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soyarslan, S. (2014). From ordinary life to blessedness. In Kisner, M. J. and Youpa, A. (eds.), Essays on Spinoza’s Ethical Theory (pp. 236–57). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soyarslan, S. (2021). Spinoza’s account of blessedness explored through an Aristotelian lens. Dialogue, 60(3), 499–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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