‘Divine Law’ in Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Abstract

Abstract Starting from an analysis of chapter 4 of Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus the relation between ‘Divine Law’ and Spinoza’s claim that God cannot be a lawgiver is further examined. It is shown that Spinoza’s reinterpretation of the notion of ‘Divine Law’ as the rule of life leading to human perfection, that is, the intellectual knowledge and love of God is not consistent with some of the central tenets of the Ethics; that, as opposed to what is claimed by Spinoza himself, it is irrelevant to political philosophy; and that it mainly serves as a smoke screen for the denial of God’s legislative will, which in the seventeenth century was associated with atheism.