Spinoza and the Arabic-Jewish Aristotelians on Theologico-Political Relationship

Abstract

In Tractatus Theologico Politicus, Spinoza considered Maimonides as the representative of the dogmatic position on the relationship between philosophy and theology, and criticized the latter's principles of philosophical allegory of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah). Meanwhile, he was probably exposed to the Averroist political philosophy through Del Medigo's work. A comparative analysis of the related texts of Spinoza, Maimonides and Averroes reveals that Spinoza's breakthrough in monotheistic philosophy is, to a large extent, based on his background in Arabic-Jewish Aristotelianism. He pushed Maimonides' and Averroes, political approach to the revealed Law toward its logical limit, and by doing so, deconstructed the medieval paradigm of reconciling philosophy with religion.