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A Comprehension of Spinoza's God: Through the Dichotomy of Labels

Norell, Tania LU (2016) TLVM77 20152
Studies in Faith and World Views
Abstract
Abstract:
The 17th century philosopher Spinoza is known for his concept of God as One Substance, God
or Nature and therefore considered as a monist and categorized as a naturalist. He has been
labeled an atheist and God-intoxicated man, as well as a determinist and pantheist, which I
perceive to be dichotomies. The problem, as I see it, is that Spinoza’s philosophy and concept
of God has mainly been interpreted through a dualistic mind-set, traditional to philosophers
and theologians of the West, but Spinoza has a monistic worldview, and this has
consequences in regards to the comprehension of what Spinoza’s concept of God entails and
what a relationship “with” God implies. The labels panentheist and necessitarianist are
discussed... (More)
Abstract:
The 17th century philosopher Spinoza is known for his concept of God as One Substance, God
or Nature and therefore considered as a monist and categorized as a naturalist. He has been
labeled an atheist and God-intoxicated man, as well as a determinist and pantheist, which I
perceive to be dichotomies. The problem, as I see it, is that Spinoza’s philosophy and concept
of God has mainly been interpreted through a dualistic mind-set, traditional to philosophers
and theologians of the West, but Spinoza has a monistic worldview, and this has
consequences in regards to the comprehension of what Spinoza’s concept of God entails and
what a relationship “with” God implies. The labels panentheist and necessitarianist are
discussed and the label of theologian argued. The thesis methodology is constructive because
the purpose is to provide a theoretical foundation that has the potential to be applied in
dialogues about God between the vast varieties of believers and non-believers alike, as well as
across boundaries of contradicting worldviews and academic disciplines, and this focus on
functionalism is inspired by a theory that calls for the furthering of inter-disciplinary dialogue
between the subject areas philosophy of religion and theology specifically. My personal
worldview is that there might well be One Substance, God or Nature, but that does not
necessarily mean that there is one truth that is valid, but rather that all truth claims may be of
value. The thesis therefore provides yet another lens through which one can view and relate to
the attitude of there being an “Other” or “others.” (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Norell, Tania LU
supervisor
organization
course
TLVM77 20152
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Spinoza’s God, Atheist, God-intoxicated man, Pantheist, Determinist, Panentheist, Necessitarianist.
language
English
id
8865493
date added to LUP
2016-05-11 08:59:25
date last changed
2016-05-11 08:59:25
@misc{8865493,
  abstract     = {{Abstract:
The 17th century philosopher Spinoza is known for his concept of God as One Substance, God
or Nature and therefore considered as a monist and categorized as a naturalist. He has been
labeled an atheist and God-intoxicated man, as well as a determinist and pantheist, which I
perceive to be dichotomies. The problem, as I see it, is that Spinoza’s philosophy and concept
of God has mainly been interpreted through a dualistic mind-set, traditional to philosophers
and theologians of the West, but Spinoza has a monistic worldview, and this has
consequences in regards to the comprehension of what Spinoza’s concept of God entails and
what a relationship “with” God implies. The labels panentheist and necessitarianist are
discussed and the label of theologian argued. The thesis methodology is constructive because
the purpose is to provide a theoretical foundation that has the potential to be applied in
dialogues about God between the vast varieties of believers and non-believers alike, as well as
across boundaries of contradicting worldviews and academic disciplines, and this focus on
functionalism is inspired by a theory that calls for the furthering of inter-disciplinary dialogue
between the subject areas philosophy of religion and theology specifically. My personal
worldview is that there might well be One Substance, God or Nature, but that does not
necessarily mean that there is one truth that is valid, but rather that all truth claims may be of
value. The thesis therefore provides yet another lens through which one can view and relate to
the attitude of there being an “Other” or “others.”}},
  author       = {{Norell, Tania}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A Comprehension of Spinoza's God: Through the Dichotomy of Labels}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}