238 / 298
Horst Steinke
238
471
Ibid.
, p. 94, first paragraph, to p. 99, first paragraph (inclusive).
472
Ibid.
, p. 94.
473
At the conclusion of this discussion of Hebrew, he reiterates that Scrip-
ture contains «meaning» only «in matters of moral conduct» (
ibid.
, p. 96), that
is, an element of the second kind of knowledge, acceptable since it is validated
ultimately by intuitive knowledge. We might also take note of the rhetorical
turn that Spinoza’s argumentation takes: what is initially advertised as mere
«difficulty”, or a matter of relative degree, has become an absolute state of
affairs, «impossibility», understatement (
diminutio
) thus morphing into exagger-
ation (
superlatio
). As P. J. Bagley commented: «[…] the language in which they
[the biblical narratives] are composed presents numerous virtually insoluble
problems. […] determining the authentic meaning of Scripture is severely cur-
tailed since the form and matter of the Bible frequently pose insurmountable
interpretive obstacles» (Id.,
Spinoza, Biblical Criticism, and the Enlightenment
, in
Modern Enlightenment and the Rule of Reason,
ed. by J. C. McCarthy, Washington,
The Catholic University of America Press, 1998, pp. 124-149, pp. 134, 135).
474
Published in English as
Hebrew Grammar
, ed. and trans. by M. J. Bloom,
London, Vision Press, 1962; reprinted, and ed. by R. Keele, in
Spinoza: Com-
plete Works
, with trans. by S. Shirley, ed. with intro. and notes by M. L. Mor-
gan, Indianapolis-Cambridge, Hackett Publishing, 2002, pp. 586-675.
475
«On a en effet absolument voulu trouver dans celle-ci un parallèle entre
les thèses métaphysiques de Spinoza et sa description de la langue hébraïque
(One needs to be in effect absolutely prepared to find in it [the
Compendium
] a
parallelism between Spinoza’s metaphysical concepts and his description of
the Hebrew language)» (P.-F. Moreau,
Spinoza. L’expérience et l’éternité
, cit., p.
339). For a detailed examination of the work, see Z. Levy,
The Problem of Nor-
mativity in Spinoza’s “Hebrew Grammar”
, in «Studia Spinozana», 3, 1987, pp. 351-
390, concluding: «The distinctive feature of the
Grammar
is its ambitious aspi-
ration towards rationality. Spinoza did not limit his investigation to the elabo-
ration of grammatical rules as such but wished to lay bare the essential laws
and reasons which determine linguistic phenomena in the Hebrew language
[…]» (
ibid.
, pp. 387-388).
476
«Une fois encore apparaît la différence entre le domaine des essences et
celui des existences qui marque pour Spinoza le lieu d’instauration de
l’expérience […] (Once more there appears the difference between the do-
main of essences and that of existences which defines for Spinoza the place
where experience is established)» (P.-F. Moreau,
Spinoza. L’expérience et l’éternité
,
cit., p. 344).