Freedom and Authenticity
An exploration of Spinoza’s determinism
The highest form of freedom is to be one’s self. This was the insight of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and to understand what he meant, we’ll start with his view of the universe.
Spinoza believed that the universe is a single substance, equivalent to God, that moves with absolute necessity. As a result, everything that happens could have only happened one way, being the inevitable result of natural laws.
For the most part, this is the view that most people have about the world. We too believe that the universe is determined by natural laws, and therefore moves by necessity. For that reason, Spinoza’s philosophy is now recognized as an important precursor to modern science.
This view gives us a particular understanding of humankind. On this account, humans are simply an outgrowth of the natural laws of the universe. If we imagine that the universe is an elaborate set of interconnected gears, being human means being a single gear that turns with other gears called ‘societal influence’, ‘biological makeup’, ‘personal history’, and so on.
This is a pretty picture: it gives us a sense of being in harmony with the universe. If we’re determined by the same forces that drive the winds and move the earth, we partake in a greater whole and…
