58 / 298
Horst Steinke
58
78
The overall sense is expressed by A. V. Garrett: «[I]f the
Ethics
presents
the necessity of nature, why so many alternative proofs, scholia, and digres-
sions? […] [W]hy so much in addition to definitions, axioms, propositions,
and demonstrations?» (Id.,
Meaning in Spinoza’s Method
, cit., p. 15).
79
This approach is commonly attributed to two leading Spinoza scholars,
H. Joachim and H. Wolfson, writing in 1901 and 1934, resp.; see A. V. Gar-
rett,
Meaning in Spinoza’s Method
, cit., pp. 99-100; Th. C. Mark,
Ordine Gemetrica
Demonstrata
, cit., pp. 265-270.
80
E. Shmueli,
The Geometrical Method, Personal Caution, and the Idea of Tolerance
,
in
Spinoza: New Perspectives
, cit., pp. 197-215, p. 200, stating the view of another
Spinoza scholar, H. H. Britan; on Wolfson’s “pedagogical” explanation of the
geometrical/axiomatic format, see
ibid.
, 201-203. Some of Wolfson’s views
can be found in Id.,
Behind the Geometrical Method
, in
Spinoza: A Collection of Criti-
cal Essays,
ed. by M. Grene, Garden City, New York Anchor Books, 1973, pp.
3-24; Id.,
The Geometrical Method
, in
Spinoza
, ed. by M. Schewe and A. Engstler,
Frankfurt-New York, Peter Lang, 1990, pp. 87-103.
81
D. R. Lachterman,
The Physics of Spinoza’s Ethics
, cit., p. 73
82
Ethics
, Part III, Preface; see also D. R.Lachterman,
The Physics of Spinoza’s
Ethics
, cit., p. 73; A. V. Garrett,
Meaning in Spinoza’s Method
, cit., p. 8; V.
Viljanen,
Spinoza’s Geometry of Power,
cit., p. 52.
83
J. Hintikka - J. Bachman,
What If…? Toward Excellence in Reasoning
,
Mountain View, Mayfield Publishing, 1991, p. 85
84
Th. C. Mark,
Ordine Geometrica Demonstrata
, cit., pp. 270-272.
85
Ethics
, Part I, Appendix; see V. Viljanen,
Spinoza’s Geometry of Power
,
cit.,
p. 1.
86
E. Shmueli,
The Geometrical Method, Personal Caution, and the Idea of Toler-
ance
, cit., p. 203; other commentators made similar assessments, including S.
B. Smith,
Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish identity
, New Haven-
London, Yale University Press, 1997, p. 58: «Only what derives from the im-
mutable structure of reason can be called true in the highest sense of the
term»; Ch. Norris,
Spinoza & the Origins of Modern Critical Theory
, Cambridge,
Basil Blackwell, 1991, pp. 29-30: «It is the model of Euclidean geometry that
Spinoza takes as his ideal case of a knowledge exempt from all accidents of
time and place»; V. Viljanen,
Spinoza’s Geometry of Power,
cit., p. 44: «Spinoza
regards the mathematical standard as the correct one, because through it the
true formal character of the world can be pinned down».
87
R. Kennington,
Analytic and Synthetic Methods in Spinoza’s
Ethics
,
in R.
Kennington (ed. by),
The Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza
, Washington, Catholic
University of America Press, 1980, pp. 293-318, p. 301.