Professor Dimitris Vardoulakis of the University of Western Sydney, Australia on the authority and utility of Spinoza

On September 24th, Professor Dimitris Vardoulakis, deputy director of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, attended the Academy of Philosophy and Social Sciences and gave an academic report entitled “The Authority and Utility of Spinoza”. Professor Tian Jie from the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences presided over the report.

Professor Vardoulakis first put forward his own point of view: Spinoza theory is influenced by Epicureanism/hedonism, which can be from Spinoza's "authority" and "utility" It can be seen from the view. Professor Vardoulakis immediately clarified the three viewpoints of "Ibiruism/hedonism". The first is Epicurus's sense of sensualism, which emphasizes that the pursuit of true “pleasure” rather than general appetite should be the goal of our lives, so we need to pay attention to the senses. The level of personal pleasure, research and practice of practical wisdom that can bring pleasure in practical experience, without such pleasure, can not truly bring about the obligation or virtue of caution, glory and justice. The second is the idea of physicalism or corpuscularianism. It is based on the atomic and void theory of ancient Greece, which advocates that everything has been decided, thus denying that people truly possess and control their own lives, negating teleology. . This claim was denied in the face of modern physics. The third is the claim of naturalism, a claim based on the results of modern empiricism and the scientific revolution. Empiricism and modern science make people realize that there is no way for eternal existence of anything, even spirit. This has spurred the foundation of Christian metaphysics, and in turn makes each of us today a hedonist in some sense. Undoubtedly, such an Epicurean/hedonism implies a direct focus on experience, action, and experience (and, of course, on “utility utility”).

Professor Vardoulakis then illustrates the Epicurean/hedonistic influence of Spinoza's manifestation through a dialectical relationship between authority and utility. "Authority" is attributed to Professor Vardoulakis's view based on a series of philosophical history as a criterion for discussion and excuse, in which an authority does not need to respond and respond to act. According to Vardoulakis, the prophet Moses in the Hebrew Bible mentioned by Spinoza is a typical representative of the authority. Moses relied on an indisputable special position and had authority. The criterion for people to judge whether they obeyed Moses was whether Moses had authority or not, whether Moses gave a sufficient reason or was rationally analyzed by people to determine the most effective plan. Moses was This established the political organization of the Jewish tribe. The prophets in other Hebrew Bibles also play a similar role as authority. Before the fourteenth century, the authority of the combination of theology and politics was a typical representative of Europe as a whole, and this was the authoritative regime that Spinoza tried to argue.

Such "authority" naturally encountered challenges in the era of Spinoza. The metaphysical claim of Monism is proposed, and people no longer accept the spiritual value of the spirit and the flesh, and the value of the world, and the revelation and prophetic doctrine it defends. Modern materialism lays the foundation for such a monistic claim, and at the same time people begin to have more people's rational abilities and think that they can obtain the special ability of the truth that is determined and guaranteed by human nature. For the above two reasons, people began to interpret history in a rational way, interpreting Moses' story as "making rational choices based on rationality," which also means the collapse of authority. And this is what Spenossa said in the book. Therefore, Professor Vardoulakis believes that such a change of thought that replaces authority is not unique to Spinoza's thought, and we also need to consider the influence of the change of the entire philosophical thought in the discussion of Spinoza's works.

In fact, the “practice wisdom” (Pronesis) related to effectiveness and the calculation of effectiveness have long existed. Professor Vardoulakis mentioned that Aristotle mentioned in Nicomachean Ethics that although the instrumental judgment of human beings has both emotional and intellectual effects, it is related to "universal judgment" ( Universal judgements) are still different. Epicurus also mentioned that practical wisdom is the most basic, and judgment should be in the latter. Even in the Bible, under the authority of Jesus Christ and other prophets, there are also paragraphs that focus on practical results. It should be noted that the emphasis on “utility” here is not the same as the modern “Utilitarianism” in the West.

Spinoza's handling of the relationship between "authority" and "effectiveness" actually has a unique meaning for us today. Spinoza provided the idea of an “unauthorized politician” that could be a viable alternative to populism. His arguments for effectiveness help us to reflect on the role of media, tools, and artifacts in the neoliberal era.

Professor Dimitris Vardoulakis, deputy director of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, has published many books and published many papers in well-known publishing houses.