1 Spinoza on Knowledge, Freedom and Education. P.R. GLASS A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London. University of London Institute of Education 1993 2 ABSTRACT This thesis, through an examination of the Philosophy of Spinoza, represents a critique of the conception of freedom embodied in recent philosophy of education and the education system. In Chapter 1 I show that for Spinoza man's good is to realise his own nature; and this lies in beco,ming free, where we transcend our spatio­ temporal circumstances. I distinguish between relative and absolute freedom. The former is where we become more free within the here and now. The latter involves participation in a realm that is untouched by the spatio-temporal. We can be free with respect to the content of our states and with respect to their acquisition. This is achieved through knowledge as the constitutive expression of freedom. In Chapter 2 I show in general terms what this involves. We go beyond the first stage of knowledge to Reason and Intuition. I also show the connection between freedom and eternity. In Chapter 3 I propose that we must understand Nature in Mechanistic and Organic terms if we are to view it from no particular standpoint and that we need to understand exactly how things are placed within nature. We must acquire a methodology to help us form ideas for ourselves. In Chapter 4 I explain that freedom must be realised through understanding ourselves as part of Nature and we must form affects that lift us out of the common order and which enable us to be more free within the common order. In chapter 5 I look at some implications for education of Spinoza's ideas: its neglect for the imagination, the light it throws on writings on Autonomy, the importance of critical thinking and the importance of a Spinozan education in putting the here and now in a correct balance with the eternal. 3 CONTENTS PREFACE ..................................................................................................................... 5 REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................. 6 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 1 - FREEDOM.......................................................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 10 1. THE CONATUS ........................................................................................... 10 2. EGOISM ....................................................................................................... 14 3. FREEDOM.................................................................................................... 18 4. FREEDOM AND REASON ........................................................................ 23 5. DETERMINISM ........................................................................................... 28 6. FREEDOM AS THE HIGHEST GOOD ................................................... 35 CHAPTER 2- KNOWLEDGE AND FREEDOM .................................................... 38 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 38 1. TRUTH .......................................................................................................... 39 2. ACQUISITION OF IDEAS .......................................................................... 42 3. IMAGINATION ............................................................................................ 44 4. THE OBJECTS OF REASON ..................................................................... 49 5. THE EXERCISE OF REASON .................................................................. 52 6. INTEGRATION OF EXPERIENCE .......................................................... 55 7. INTUITION ................................................................................................... 57 8. ETERNITY ................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 3 - THE CONTENT OF AN EDUCATION FOR FREEDOM............ 62 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 62 1. MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS .............................................................. 62 2. NATURE AS ORGANISM .......................................................................... 65 3. EXPLANATION ........................................................................................... 71 4. METHOD ...................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER 4 - THE AFFECTS ................................................................................... 83 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 83 1. SELF-KNOWLEDGE ................................................................................... 83 2. UNFREE AFFECTS ..................................................................................... 86 3. LOVE OF GOD ............................................................................................ 89 4. DETACHMENT ........................................................................................... 91 5. RELATIVE FREEDOM .............................................................................. 95 6. MORALITY AND THE PERSONAL LIFE ............................................. 100 7. SELF-REGARDING TRAITS ..................................................................... 105 8. OTHER -REGARDING AFFECTS ............................................................ 107 9. METHODS ................................................................................................... 109 4 CHAPTER 5 - LIBERAL EDUCATION AND SPINOZAN EDUCATION .......... 114 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 114 1. JOlIN" WHITE ............................................................................................... 114 2. DAVID COOPER ......................................................................................... 118 3. CHARLES BAILEY ..................................................................................... 120 4. PAUL HIRST ...........................................................................................•.... 121 5. MARY WARNOCK AND THE IMAGINATION ..................................... 123 6. CRITICAL THINKING................................................................................ 129 7. SCIENCE EDUCATION ............................................................................. 130 8. A SPINOZAN EDUCATION ...................................................................... 131 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................... 144 1. CONATUS ..................................................................................................... 144 2. MORALITY AND THE CONATUS .......................................................... 145 3. SPINOZA'S DEFINITION OF FREEDOM ............................................... 148 4. OBJECT OF IDEA ....................................................................................... 148 5. SCEPTICISM ................................................................................................ 149 6. PROOF OF SUFFICIENT REASON ......................................................... 149 7. NECESSITY .................................................................................................. 150 8. ETERNITY ................................................................................................... 151 9. GOD'S EXISTENCE .................................................................................... 152 10.UNIFIED WHOLE ...................................................................................... 153 11.FINITE MODE AS PART OF SUBSTANCE ........................................... 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 155 5 PREFACE " We conceive things as actual in two ways: either in so far as we conceive them to exist in relation to a certain time and place, or insofar as we conceive them to be contained in God and to follow from the necessity of the divine nature. But the things we conceive in the second way as true or real, we conceive under a species of eternity" (E5p29s). "Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden. " ----- T. S. Eliot. Burnt Norton. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First I would like to thank Mr Graham Haydon, of the University of London Institute of Education, for the deep consideration he has given to my work and his patience. Also to Professor. R. S. Peters, of the same Institute, for setting me on the path to Spinoza from which one can never be the same. I have had helpful discussions with David Murray of Birkbeck College and Professor Ruth Saw, formerly of Bedford College, London University. If, in what follows, I have not made adequate use of the analysis given to me by the above, then I might express regret but that would not be a Spinozistic response. In so far as any blame for the account which unfolds is consistent with Spinoza's philosophy then it must fall entirely on myself.