S p i n ‘Readers will learn from this book that a philosophy of ratio is not to be o conflated with a rationalist philosophy. The authors draw on the three z senses of ratio – reason, relation and proportion – to explore their a interdependence and, crucially, the emergent and constructed conatus ’ towards equality and wellbeing. This valuable book demonstrates that s empiricism and rationalism need not be opposed.’ P Andrej Radman, Delft University of Technology h i ‘This volume represents an important collective re-thinking of Spinoza’s l key concept of ratio. Along with new interpretations of his treatment of o the relations between reason and emotion, it offers fascinating insights s into the relevance of his philosophy for understanding contemporary o issues in relation to artistic practice, architecture and the built p y d h b environment.’ r y d o Genevieve Lloyd, University of New South Wales e L it o d E th Discover Spinoza’s philosophy of ratio, from f e s geometry and reason to bodies, affects and R ’ B a a architecture z y t h i o o p The word ratio means reason, relation and proportion: concepts at the n io heart of Spinoza’s philosophy. From his geometrical method to his theory i o t of mind and body and from his account of the emotions to his doctrine p s a of how to live well, Spinoza’s philosophy is a philosophy of ratio. S lo R i f This book explores the varied dimensions of this keystone of Spinoza’s h thought. Eleven chapters by prominent authors take you from the P o geometrical foundations of reasoning to the biologised mind, affective B E e d architecture, societal wellbeing, the harmonious cosmos and beyond. t i h t e d L o is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. b Beth Lord r y d Cover image: Wall Drawing #122 (detail): as installed at Paula Cooper Gallery, NY, May 2011. First Drawn by: Sol LeWitt, Steve Ringle. Drawn by: Sachiko Cho, Brianne Caitlin Doak, Lacey Fekishazy, Clinton King, Hidemi Nomura © 2017 The LeWitt Estate / DACS. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Cathy Carver Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk ISBN 978-1-4744-2043-3 edinburghuniversitypress.com Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio Edited by Beth Lord Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com © editorial matter and organisation Beth Lord, 2018 © the chapters their several authors, 2018 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Typeset in 10/12 Goudy Old Style by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire and printed and bound in Great Britain. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 2043 3 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 2044 0 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 2045 7 (epub) The right of Beth Lord to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). Contents Acknowledgements v Abbreviations of Spinoza’s Works vi Introduction 1 Beth Lord 1 Spinoza’s Ontology Geometrically Illustrated: A Reading of Ethics IIP8S 5 Valtteri Viljanen 2 Reason and Body in Spinoza’s Metaphysics 19 Michael LeBuffe 3 Ratio and Activity: Spinoza’s Biologising of the Mind in an Aristotelian Key 33 Heidi M. Ravven 4 Harmony in Spinoza and his Critics 46 Timothy Yenter 5 Ratio as the Basis of Spinoza’s Concept of Equality 61 Beth Lord 6 Proportion as a Barometer of the Affective Life in Spinoza 74 Simon B. Duffy 7 Spinoza, Heterarchical Ontology, and Affective Architecture 89 Gökhan Kodalak 8 Dissimilarity: Spinoza’s Ethical Ratios and Housing Welfare 108 Peg Rawes 9 The Greater Part: How Intuition Forms Better Worlds 125 Stefan White 10 Slownesses and Speeds, Latitudes and Longitudes: In the Vicinity of Beatitude 141 Hélène Frichot iv Contents 11 The Eyes of the Mind: Proportion in Spinoza, Swift, and Ibn Tufayl 155 Anthony Uhlmann Notes on Contributors 169 Bibliography 172 Index 185 Abbreviations of Spinoza’s Works CGH Hebrew Grammar; references are to chapter number and to volume and page number in G CM Metaphysical Thoughts (appendix to PPC); references are to part number in roman numerals and chapter number in arabic numerals E Ethics; references are to part number in roman numerals, followed by Proposition (Definition, Axiom etc.) number in arabic numerals, as follows: D = Definition; A = Axiom; P = Proposition; Dem. = Demonstration; C = Corollary; S = Scholium; Exp. = Explanation; L = Lemma; Post. = Postulate; Pref. = Preface; App. = Appendix; Def.Aff. = Part III ‘Definitions of the Affects’ (e.g. E IVP37S2 = Ethics Part IV, Proposition 37, Scholium 2) Ep. Letters; references are to letter number, correspondent and date (where known) G Spinoza Opera, ed. Carl Gebhardt, 4 vols (1925) KV Short Treatise on God, Man, and his Wellbeing; references are to part number in roman numerals and chapter number in arabic numerals PPC Principles of Cartesian Philosophy; references follow the same system as the Ethics TIE Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect; references are to paragraph number TP Political Treatise; references are to chapter and paragraph number TTP Theological-Political Treatise; references are to chapter number, and to volume and page number in G Introduction Beth Lord This book is about Spinoza’s philosophy of ratio. The Latin term ratio can mean reason, relation, and proportion, as well as mathematical ratio. It is all these senses of ratio, and the relations between them, that we address in this book. The book argues that Spinoza’s philosophy is a philosophy of ratio: not a ‘rationalist’ philosophy, but a philosophy based on the interactions of reason, relation, and proportion. In this short introduction I introduce these concepts, direct the reader to the chapters that discuss them, and consider how Spinoza’s philosophy of ratio is reflected in architecture, one of the book’s key themes. Ratio is a significant term in Spinoza’s philosophy. Spinoza is typically (if not entirely accurately) characterised as a rationalist, for whom reasoning has cen- tral importance. In the Ethics, reason is Spinoza’s ‘second kind’ of knowledge (E IIP40S2), sitting between empirical awareness or imagination (knowledge of the first kind) and intuitive intellection (knowledge of the third kind). In reasoning, we understand things adequately: we start from axioms, definitions, and basic properties and analytically or deductively build up true understanding of the causes of – or reasons for – things being as they are. Reasons are what reason understands; as Michael LeBuffe discusses in Chapter 2, those reasons may be ideal or corporeal. Developing one’s reasoning is the primary goal of the human mind, and is key to our flourishing: the ethical arguments of Spinoza’sEthics rest on the principle that our wellbeing, virtue, and freedom develop in tandem with our reasoning. The freest and ethically ‘best’ person – that is, the person who has the most autono- mous control of her or his own actions and reactions – is also the most rational. But reason is only the most obvious sense of ratio in Spinoza’s philosophy. Spinoza says that every physical body is governed by a characteristic ‘ratio of motion and rest’ (E IIL5). This may be understood as a mathematical ratio (of degrees of motion to degrees of rest) but Heidi M. Ravven, in Chapter 3, argues that it may be better understood as the body’s unique equilibrium. This charac- teristic ratio determines and provides the reason for the body’s individual form: as LeBuffe argues, bodies contain their own reasons. In striving to understand these ratios/reasons, the mind strives to maintain its own equilibrium which, according to Ravven, Spinoza conceives as ‘biologised’. Ratio underlies Spinoza’s parallel- ism doctrine, and focusing on it allows new interpretations of that doctrine to be developed. 2 Beth Lord Ratio determines what a body is, and what the mind can understand about that body. Yet for Spinoza, the body is not determined exclusively by its characteristic ratio. The human body, for example, can maintain its form, grow, and flourish only through its interactions with food, water, shelter, tools, and other human, animal, and inanimate bodies. These interactions are relations – ratio in its third sense – and are essential to finite existence. Finite things are defined by being determined by other finite things (E ID5, IP28): our existence, both physical and mental, necessarily involves relations. The body is both a whole of interrelating parts, and a relational part of larger wholes. In Chapter 5 I argue that Spinoza understands parts of wholes to have ratios that are geometrically equal. Members of communities and states can also be understood to have geometrically equal ratios, giving way to a Spinozan ideal of the equal society based not on political equality, but on equality of flourishing. While relationality is crucial to our being and flourishing, however, it also threatens us: our interactions can be physically and mentally harmful, and can affect us with negative emotions, leading to a diminishment of reasoning and wellbeing. Relations, good and bad, determine our emotional and social lives. In Chapter 6, Simon B. Duffy examines two ways of interpreting the power to act of Spinoza’s relational individual. While both Gilles Deleuze and Pierre Macherey understand that power in terms of ratio, whether that ratio is variable or fixed determines our understanding of how we are affected by other things.