Notes on Spinoza on Rights
(TTP, chapters 16 and 20)
Outline of Chapter 16
Spinoza has three main objectives in this chapter:
• To determine the natural right of individuals
• To demonstrate the basis and right of the state
(imperium)
• To determine the civil right of citizens
Natural Right
• Spinoza begins with an ontological claim: “[S]ince the universal
power of the whole o nature is nothing but the power of all
individual things together, it follows each individual thing has the
sovereign right to do everything that it can do, or the right of
each thing extends so far as its determined power extends” (p.
195).
• Therefore, the natural right of every human being “is determined
not by sound reason but by desire and power” (p. 196).
• Since human beings naturally seek social contracts for mutual
interest, it follows that the validity of every social contract
depends on whether it remains in our mutual interest, without
which “the agreement fails and remains becomes void” (p. 199).
The Basis and Right of the State
•
•
Individual transfers of right form a community’s collective and sovereign
right as a democracy, which Spinoza characterizes as “the most
natural” form of state and “approaches most closely to the freedom
nature bestows on every person” (p. 202).
Concern about danger to individual freedom in a democracy is offset by
Spinoza’s argument that “it can very rarely happen that sovereigns
issue totally absurd commands. To protect their position and retain
power, they are very much obliged to work for the common good and
direct all things by the dictate of reason; for no one has maintained a
violent government for long, as Seneca says. Furthermore, there is
less reason in a democratic state to fear absurd proceedings. For it is
almost impossible that the majority of a large assembly would agree on
the same irrational decision. In addition, there is its foundation and
purpose which is precisely…to avoid the follies of appetite and as much
as possible to bring men within the limits of reason, so that they may
dwell in peace and harmony. Without this foundation, the whole
structure soon disintegrates” (pp. 200-1).
Civil Right
• Spinoza defines a citizen’s civil right as “the freedom
of each person to conserve themselves in their own
condition, which is determined by the edicts of the
sovereign power and protected by its authority alone”
(p. 202
• He goes on to discuss violations of civil right, the
distinction between justice and injustice, allies and
enemies, and the nature of treason.
An Objection
• Spinoza concludes chapter 16 by examining an
objection to his argument: “What if the sovereign
commands something which is against religion and
the obedience which we have promised to God by an
explicit agreement?” (p. 206)
• Spinoza’s response
The Limits of State Control
“[N]o one can transfer to another person his natural right, or ability,
to think freely and make his own judgments about any matter
whatsoever, and cannot be compelled to do so. This is why a
government which seek to control people’s minds is considered
oppressive, and any sovereign power appears to harm its subjects
an usurp their rights when it tries to tell them what they must accept
as true and reject as false an what beliefs should inspire their
devotion to God. For these things are within each person’s own
right, which he cannot give up even were he to wish to do so” (p.
250).
The True Purpose of the State
“It very clearly follows from the fundamental principles of the
state…that its ultimate purpose is not to dominate or control people
by fear or subject them to the authority of another. On the contrary,
its aim is to free everyone from fear so that they may live in security
as far as possible, that is, so that they may retain, to the highest
possible degree, their natural right to live and to act without harm to
themselves or to others. It is not, I contend, the purpose of the
state to turn people from rational beings into beasts or automata,
but rather to allow their minds and bodies to develop in their own
ways in security and enjoy the free use of reason, and not to
participate in conflicts based on hatred, anger or deceit or in
malicious disputes with each other. Therefore, the true purpose of
the state is in fact freedom” (P. 252).