De Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern
Philosophy wordt tweejaarlijks toegekend en bestaat uit een bedrag van $10.000
en publicatie van het winnend essay in de Oxford
Studies in Early Modern Philosophy [ws. Volume IX of X]. [cf. marcsandersfoundation]
Voor dit jaar kwam de filosoof John Grey van de Michigan State University [cf.] voor deze prijs in aanmerking. [Niet te verwarren met de John Gray van Seven types of atheism - cf. blogs – die is emeritus professor
of European Thought at the London School of Economics].
De titel van John Grey’s prijswinnend essay is: “The Metaphysics of
Natural Right in Spinoza” (PDF)
Abstract: In the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP),
Spinoza argues that “the right of each thing extends as far as its
determinate power does” (TTP 16.3, G III/189); subsequently, in
the Tractatus Politicus (TP), he offers a slightly
revised argument for the same conclusion. Here I offer an account of
the reasons for the revision. In both arguments, the natural right of
finite individuals is derivative of God’s right. However, the TTP argument
hinges on the claim that each individual is part of the whole
of nature (totius naturae), and for this reason inherits part
of the natural right of that whole. Using several analogous
cases from the Ethics, I show that this form of
argument from division is not compatible with Spinoza’s considered
view about the way in which finite individuals derive properties from
God. The revised argument, by contrast, avoids the pitfalls of his
earlier efforts. It also better reveals the deep roots by which the
monistic metaphysics of the Ethics feeds into Spinoza’s
conception of natural right.
Het
is een razend interessant essay. Ik raad iedere bezoeker serieus lezing van dit
artikel aan – het is echt en staaltje van hogere school secundair spinozisme. Je leert er Spinoza weer iets beter door kennen!
“Reason
and Knowledge in Spinoza. In Spinoza:
Basic Concepts, edited by Andre Santos Campos (Exeter: Imprint Academic,
2015). [PDF]
