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2 - God, as known by reason
Summary
To your question as to whether I have as clear an idea of God as of a triangle, I reply in the affirmative. But if you ask me whether I have as clear a mental image of God as of a triangle, I reply in the negative. We cannot imagine God, but we can apprehend him by the intellect.
(Letters 56,to Boxel)Do you take it for arrogance and pride that I resort to reason, and that I give my acceptance to this, the true Word of God, which is in the mind and can never be distorted or corrupted? Away with this destructive superstition, and acknowledge the faculty of reason which God gave you, and cultivate it, unless you would be counted among the beasts.
(Letters 76, to Burgh)THE GOD OF LOGICAL SPACE
We have seen that, in the Theological-Political Treatise and in the Political Treatise, Spinoza sought to assure his readers that the existing moral, religious and political structures of his day did not require belief in a personal divine entity interfering every now and then in human affairs. Indeed, he argued, a civil society is improved by allowing philosophers the freedom to pursue a more accurate understanding of God through reason. It is now time to turn to the details of the philosophers' more accurate understanding of God.
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- Spinoza's Radical TheologyThe Metaphysics of the Infinite, pp. 31 - 58Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2013