TEXT B Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch
philosopher and religious thinker who was born on November 24, 1632 in
Amsterdam. His family was Spanish-Portuguese Jews who were refugees to Holland.
Spinoza was taught his early education from Jewish sources. He later went on to
study other Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides, Gersonides, and
Crescas. Baruch became interested in the physical sciences and
the works of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes. As a result of his studies, he
grew away from Judaism and withdrew from the synagogue. In 1656, the rabbis
banished Spinoza from Amsterdam. For the next five years he lived on the outside
of the city where he supported himself by grinding optical lenses. During this
time, Spinoza wrote his first philosophical work Treatise on God and Man and His
Happiness. This work explained and outlined a good part of Spinoza’s
philosophical beliefs. In 1661, Spinoza moved to Rijnsburg and a
few years later he moved to Voorburg. From there he moved to the Hague. Soon
after moving to the Hague, he was offered a Chair in Philosophy at the
University of Heidelberg. Spinoza declined the offer. He was afraid it might
compromise his freedom of thought and speech. At this time, Baruch Spinoza was
well known and was well respected for his work. King Louis XIV of France offered
Spinoza a pension on the condition that he dedicate one of his works to the
monarch. Again, Spinoza rejected the offer. Spinoza’s work,
Ethics Demonstrated in Geometric Order, was one of the best outlines of his
theoretical framework. In this work, Spinoza divided his ethical thinking into
five different part--"On God", " On the Nature and Origin of the Mind," "On the
Nature and Origin of the Emotions," "On Human Bondage," and "On Human Liberty".
Spinoza believed that the universe is identical with God, who is the uncaused
"substance" of all things. Baruch Spinoza used substance for God
because he believed God was not a material reality but a basis for all things
that are reality. Spinoza also stated that humans can only use two kinds of
attributes of substance, thoughts and extension. With thought and extension
comes parallelism. Parallelism is a theory that Spinoza developed that explained
the order between the two of them. "The order and connection of ideas is the
same as the order and connection of: things. " Along with this
theory, Spinoza believed that there was no room in the substance universe for
the ignorance of one’s actions. With these actions Spinoza believed the affect
will change the rest of the body’s power to act. It could increase or decrease
the power even though God alone is the cause of those actions.
Spinoza discussed the concept of "human bondage" as a natural tendency for
feelings and passions to take control of life and to make individuals into
slaves. He believed that the only remedy for passion was actions. If a human can
clearly understand their passions they can overcome their bondage much
easier. The reasoning behind the work was to lay out a program
for the perfection of the human nature. Baruch had many sources for his work,
but his knowledge of the work of Rene Descartes had a considerable influence on
his own. He used most of Descartes vocabulary, definitions, and mathematical
ways of thinking. Baruch Spinoza died on Feb. 21, 1677 from
tuberculosis. He is credited for the most thorough study of Pantheism. Many
poets relate to his work as inspiration for their writings. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true
A.Baruch Spinoza wrote his first philosophical work before 1662. B.Baruch Spinoza gave priority to freedom of thought and speech. C.Baruch Spinoza thought one’s actions should be controlled by God. D.Baruch Spinoza studied the doctrine identifying God with the universe.