A Theologico Political Treatise [Part IV]
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Benedict de Spinoza >> A Theologico Political Treatise [Part IV]
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(19:94) Among the Hebrews things were very differently arranged: for their
Church began at the same time as their dominion, and Moses, their absolute
ruler, taught religion to the people, arranged their sacred rites, and chose
their spiritual ministers. (95) Thus the royal authority carried very great
weight with the people, and the kings kept a firm hold on their spiritual
prerogatives.
(19:96) Although, after the death of Moses, no one held absolute sway, yet
the power of deciding both in matters spiritual and matters temporal was in
the hands of the secular chief, as I have already pointed out. (97) Further,
in order that it might be taught religion and piety, the people was bound to
consult the supreme judge no less than the high priest (Deut. xvii:9, 11).
(98) Lastly, though the kings had not as much power as Moses, nearly the
whole arrangement and choice of the sacred ministry depended on their
decision. (99) Thus David arranged the whole service of the Temple (see 1
Chron. xxviii:11, 12, &c.); from all the Levites he chose twenty-four
thousand for the sacred psalms; six thousand of these formed the
body from which were chosen the judges and proctors, four thousand were
porters, and four thousand to play on instruments (see 1 Chron. xxiii:4, 5).
(100) He further divided them into companies (of whom he chose the chiefs),
so that each in rotation, at the allotted time, might perform the sacred
rites. (101) The priests he also divided into as many companies; I will not
go through the whole catalogue, but refer the reader to 2 Chron. viii:13,
where it is stated, "Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord . . .
. . after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandments
of Moses;" and in verse 14, "And he appointed, according to the order
of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service . . . .
. . for so had David the man of God commanded." (102) Lastly, the historian
bears witness in verse 15: "And they departed not from the commandment of
the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or
concerning the treasuries."
[19:6] (103) From these and other histories of the kings it is abundantly
evident, that the whole practice of religion and the sacred ministry
depended entirely on the commands of the king.
(19:104) When I said above that the kings had not the same right as Moses to
elect the high priest, to consult God without intermediaries, and to condemn
the prophets who prophesied during their reign; I said so simply because the
prophets could, in virtue of their mission, choose a new king and give
absolution for regicide, not because they could call a king who offended
against the law to judgment, or could rightly act against him [Endnote 33].
(19:105) Wherefore if there had been no prophets who, in virtue of a special
revelation, could give absolution for regicide, the kings would have
possessed absolute rights over all matters both spiritual and temporal.
(106) Consequently the rulers of modern times, who have no prophets and
would not rightly be bound in any case to receive them (for they are not
subject to Jewish law), have absolute possession of the spiritual
prerogative, although they are not celibates, and they will always retain
it, if they will refuse to allow religious dogmas to be unduly multiplied or
confounded with philosophy.
[20:0] CHAPTER XX - THAT IN A FREE STATE EVERY MAN
MAY THINK WHAT HE LIKES, AND SAY WHAT HE THINKS.
[20:1] (1) If men's minds were as easily controlled as their tongues, every
king would sit safely on his throne, and government by compulsion would
cease; for every subject would shape his life according to the intentions of
his rulers, and would esteem a thing true or false, good or evil, just or
unjust, in obedience to their dictates. (2) However, we have shown already
(Chapter XVII.) that no man's mind can possibly lie wholly at the
disposition of another, for no one can willingly transfer his natural right
of free reason and judgment, or be compelled so to do. (3) For this
reason government which attempts to control minds is accounted tyrannical,
and it is considered an abuse of sovereignty and a usurpation of the rights
of subjects, to seek to prescribe what shall be accepted as true, or
rejected as false, or what opinions should actuate men in their worship of
God. (4) All these questions fall within a man's natural right, which he
cannot abdicate even with his own consent.
(20:5) I admit that the judgment can be biassed in many ways, and to an
almost incredible degree, so that while exempt from direct external control
it may be so dependent on another man's words, that it may fitly be said to
be ruled by him; but although this influence is carried to great lengths, it
has never gone so far as to invalidate the statement, that every man's
understanding is his own, and that brains are as diverse as palates.
(20:6) Moses, not by fraud, but by Divine virtue, gained such a hold over
the popular judgment that he was accounted superhuman, and believed to speak
and act through the inspiration of the Deity; nevertheless, even he could
not escape murmurs and evil interpretations. (7) How much less then can
other monarchs avoid them! (8) Yet such unlimited power, if it exists at
all, must belong to a monarch, and least of all to a democracy, where the
whole or a great part of the people wield authority collectively. (9) This
is a fact which I think everyone can explain for himself.
(20:10) However unlimited, therefore, the power of a sovereign may be,
however implicitly it is trusted as the exponent of law and religion, it can
never prevent men from forming judgments according to their intellect, or
being influenced by any given emotion. (11) It is true that it has the right
to treat as enemies all men whose opinions do not, on all subjects, entirely
coincide with its own; but we are not discussing its strict rights, but its
proper course of action. (12) I grant that it has the right to rule in the
most violent manner, and to put citizens to death for very trivial causes,
but no one supposes it can do this with the approval of sound judgment. (13)
Nay, inasmuch as such things cannot be done without extreme peril to itself,
we may even deny that it has the absolute power to do them, or,
consequently, the absolute right; for the rights of the sovereign are
limited by his power.
[20:2] (14) Since, therefore, no one can abdicate his freedom of judgment
and feeling; since every man is by indefeasible natural right the master of
his own thoughts, it follows that men thinking in diverse and contradictory
fashions, cannot, without disastrous results, be compelled to speak only
according to the dictates of the supreme power. (15) Not even the most
experienced, to say nothing of the multitude, know how to keep silence. (16)
Men's common failing is to confide their plans to others, though there be
need for secrecy, so that a government would be most harsh which deprived
the individual of his freedom of saying and teaching what he thought; and
would be moderate if such freedom were granted. (17) Still we cannot deny
that authority may be as much injured by words as by actions; hence,
although the freedom we are discussing cannot be entirely denied to
subjects, its unlimited concession would be most baneful; we must,
therefore, now inquire, how far such freedom can and ought to be conceded
without danger to the peace of the state, or the power of the rulers; and
this, as I said at the beginning of Chapter XVI., is my principal object.
(18) It follows, plainly, from the explanation given above, of the
foundations of a state, that the ultimate aim of government is not to
rule, or restrain, by fear, nor to exact obedience, but contrariwise, to
free every man from fear, that he may live in all possible security; in
other words, to strengthen his natural right to exist and work - without
injury to himself or others.
(20:19) No, the object of government is not to change men from rational
beings into beasts or puppets, but to enable them to develope their minds
and bodies in security, and to employ their reason unshackled; neither
showing hatred, anger, or deceit, nor watched with the eyes of jealousy and
injustice. (20) In fact, the true aim of government is liberty.
(20:21) Now we have seen that in forming a state the power of making laws
must either be vested in the body of the citizens, or in a portion of them,
or in one man. (22) For, although mens free judgments are very diverse, each
one thinking that he alone knows everything, and although complete unanimity
of feeling and speech is out of the question, it is impossible to preserve
peace, unless individuals abdicate their right of acting entirely on their
own judgment. [20:3] (23) Therefore, the individual justly cedes the right
of free action, though not of free reason and judgment; no one can act
against the authorities without danger to the state, though his feelings and
judgment may be at variance therewith; he may even speak against them,
provided that he does so from rational conviction, not from fraud, anger, or
hatred, and provided that he does not attempt to introduce any change on his
private authority.
(20:24) For instance, supposing a man shows that a law is repugnant to sound
reason, and should therefore be repealed; if he submits his opinion to the
judgment of the authorities (who, alone, have the right of making and
repealing laws), and meanwhile acts in nowise contrary to that law, he has
deserved well of the state, and has behaved as a good citizen should; but if
he accuses the authorities of injustice, and stirs up the people against
them, or if he seditiously strives to abrogate the law without their
consent, he is a mere agitator and rebel.
(20:25) Thus we see how an individual may declare and teach what he
believes, without injury to the authority of his rulers, or to the public
peace; namely, by leaving in their hands the entire power of legislation as
it affects action, and by doing nothing against their laws, though he
be compelled often to act in contradiction to what he believes, and
openly feels, to be best.
(20:26) Such a course can be taken without detriment to justice and
dutifulness, nay, it is the one which a just and dutiful man would adopt.
(27) We have shown that justice is dependent on the laws of the authorities,
so that no one who contravenes their accepted decrees can be just, while the
highest regard for duty, as we have pointed out in the preceding chapter, is
exercised in maintaining public peace and tranquillity; these could not be
preserved if every man were to live as he pleased; therefore it is no less
than undutiful for a man to act contrary to his country's laws, for if the
practice became universal the ruin of states would necessarily follow.
(20:28) Hence, so long as a man acts in obedience to the laws of his rulers,
he in nowise contravenes his reason, for in obedience to reason he
transferred the right of controlling his actions from his own hands to
theirs. (29) This doctrine we can confirm from actual custom, for in a
conference of great and small powers, schemes are seldom carried
unanimously, yet all unite in carrying out what is decided on, whether they
voted for or against. (30) But I return to my proposition.
(20:31) From the fundamental notions of a state, we have discovered how a
man may exercise free judgment without detriment to the supreme power: from
the same premises we can no less easily determine what opinions would be
seditious. (32) Evidently those which by their very nature nullify the
compact by which the right of free action was ceded. (33) For instance, a
man who holds that the supreme power has no rights over him, or that
promises ought not to be kept, or that everyone should live as he pleases,
or other doctrines of this nature in direct opposition to the above-
mentioned contract, is seditious, not so much from his actual opinions
and judgment, as from the deeds which they involve; for he who maintains
such theories abrogates the contract which tacitly, or openly, he made with
his rulers. (34) Other opinions which do not involve acts violating the
contract, such as revenge, anger, and t he like, are not seditious, unless
it be in some. corrupt state, where superstitious and ambitious persons,
unable to endure men of learning, are so popular with the multitude
that their word is more valued than the law.
(20:35) However, I do not deny that there are some doctrines which, while
they are apparently only concerned with abstract truths and falsehoods, are
yet propounded and published with unworthy motives. (36) This question we
have discussed in Chapter XV., and shown that reason should nevertheless
remain unshackled. (37) If we hold to the principle that a man's loyalty to
the state should be judged, like his loyalty to God, from his actions only -
namely, from his charity towards his neighbours; we cannot doubt that the
best government will allow freedom of philosophical speculation no less than
of religious belief. (38) I confess that from such freedom inconveniences
may sometimes arise, but what question was ever settled so wisely that no
abuses could possibly spring therefrom? (39) He who seeks to regulate
everything by law, is more likely to arouse vices than to reform them. (40)
It is best to grant what cannot be abolished, even though it be in itself
harmful. (41) How many evils spring from luxury, envy, avarice, drunkenness,
and the like, yet these are tolerated - vices as they are - because they
cannot be prevented by legal enactments. (42) How much more then should free
thought be granted, seeing that it is in itself a virtue and that it cannot
be crushed! (43) Besides, the evil results can easily be checked, as I will
show, by the secular authorities, not to mention that such freedom
is absolutely necessary for progress in science and the liberal arts: for no
man follows such pursuits to advantage unless his judgment be entirely free
and unhampered.
(20:44) But let it be granted that freedom may be crushed, and men be so
bound down, that they do not dare to utter a whisper, save at the bidding of
their rulers; nevertheless this can never be carried to the pitch of making
them think according to authority, so that the necessary consequences would
be that men would daily be thinking one thing and saying another, to the
corruption of good faith, that mainstay of government, and to the fostering
of hateful flattery and perfidy, whence spring stratagems, and the
corruption of every good art.
(20:45) It is far from possible to impose uniformity of speech, for the more
rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech, the more obstinately are
they resisted; not indeed by the avaricious, the flatterers, and other
numskulls, who think supreme salvation consists in filling their stomachs
and gloating over their money-bags, but by those whom good education, sound
morality, and virtue have rendered more free. (46) Men, as generally
constituted, are most prone to resent the branding as criminal of opinions
which they believe to be true, and the proscription as wicked of that which
inspires them with piety towards God and man; hence they are ready to
forswear the laws and conspire against the authorities, thinking it not
shameful but honourable to stir up seditions and perpetuate any sort of
crime with this end in view. (47) Such being the constitution of human
nature, we see that laws directed against opinions affect the generous
minded rather than the wicked, and are adapted less for coercing criminals
than for irritating the upright; so that they cannot be maintained without
great peril to the state.
(20:48) Moreover, such laws are almost always useless, for those who hold
that the opinions proscribed are sound, cannot possibly obey the law;
whereas those who already reject them as false, accept the law as a kind of
privilege, and make such boast of it, that authority is powerless to repeal
it, even if such a course be subsequently desired.
(20:49) To these considerations may be added what we said in Chapter XVIII.
in treating of the history of the Hebrews. (50) And, lastly, how many
schisms have arisen in the Church from the attempt of the authorities to
decide by law the intricacies of theological controversy! (51) If men were
not allured by the hope of getting the law and the authorities on their
side, of triumphing over their adversaries in the sight of an applauding
multitude, and of acquiring honourable distinctions, they would not strive
so maliciously, nor would such fury sway their minds. (52) This is taught
not only by reason but by daily examples, for laws of this kind prescribing
what every man shall believe and forbidding anyone to speak or write to the
contrary, have often been passed, as sops or concessions to the anger of
those who cannot tolerate men of enlightenment, and who, by such harsh and
crooked enactments, can easily turn the devotion of the masses into fury and
direct it against whom they will. (53) How much better would it be
to restrain popular anger and fury, instead of passing useless laws,
which can only be broken by those who love virtue and the liberal arts, thus
paring down the state till it is too small to harbour men of talent. (54)
What greater misfortune for a state can be conceived then that honourable
men should be sent like criminals into exile, because they hold diverse
opinions which they cannot disguise? (55) What, I say, can be more hurtful
than that men who have committed no crime or wickedness should, simply
because they are enlightened, be treated as enemies and put to death, and
that the scaffold, the terror of evil-doers, should become the arena where
the highest examples of tolerance and virtue are displayed to the
people with all the marks of ignominy that authority can devise?
(20:56) He that knows himself to be upright does not fear the death of a
criminal, and shrinks from no punishment; his mind is not wrung with
remorse for any disgraceful deed: he holds that death in a good cause
is no punishment, but an honour, and that death for freedom is glory.
(20:57) What purpose then is served by the death of such men, what example
in proclaimed? the cause for which they die is unknown to the idle and the
foolish, hateful to the turbulent, loved by the upright. (58) The only
lesson we can draw from such scenes is to flatter the persecutor, or else to
imitate the victim.
(20:58) If formal assent is not to be esteemed above conviction, and if
governments are to retain a firm hold of authority and not be compelled to
yield to agitators, it is imperative that freedom of judgment should be
granted, so that men may live together in harmony, however diverse, or
even openly contradictory their opinions may be. (59) We cannot doubt that
such is the best system of government and open to the fewest objections,
since it is the one most in harmony with human nature. (60) In a democracy
(the most natural form of government, as we have shown in Chapter XVI.)
everyone submits to the control of authority over his actions, but not over
his judgment and reason; that is, seeing that all cannot think alike, the
voice of the majority has the force of law, subject to repeal if
circumstances bring about a change of opinion. (61) In proportion as the
power of free judgment is withheld we depart from the natural
condition of mankind, and consequently the government becomes more
tyrannical.
[20:4] (62) In order to prove that from such freedom no inconvenience
arises, which cannot easily be checked by the exercise of the sovereign
power, and that men's actions can easily be kept in bounds, though their
opinions be at open variance, it will be well to cite an example. (63) Such
an one is not very, far to seek. (64) The city of Amsterdam reaps the fruit
of this freedom in its own great prosperity and in the admiration of all
other people. (65) For in this most flourishing state, and most splendid
city, men of every, nation and religion live together in the greatest
harmony, and ask no questions before trusting their goods to a fellow-
citizen, save whether he be rich or poor, and whether he generally acts
honestly, or the reverse. (66) His religion and sect is considered of no
importance: for it has no effect before the judges in gaining or losing a
cause, and there is no sect so despised that its followers, provided that
they harm no one, pay every man his due, and live uprightly, are deprived of
the protection of the magisterial authority.
(20:67) On the other hand, when the religious controversy between
Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants began to be taken up by politicians
and the States, it grew into a schism, and abundantly showed that laws
dealing with religion and seeking to settle its controversies are much more
calculated to irritate than to reform, and that they give rise to extreme
licence: further, it was seen that schisms do not originate in a love of
truth, which is a source of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an
inordinate desire for supremacy, (68) From all these considerations it is
clearer than the sun at noonday, that the true schismatics are those who
condemn other men's writings, and seditiously stir up the quarrelsome masses
against their authors, rather than those authors themselves, who generally
write only for the learned, and appeal solely to reason. (69) In fact, the
real disturbers of the peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail
the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over.
(20:70) I have thus shown:-
(71) I. That it is impossible to deprive men of the liberty of saying what
they think.
(72) II. That such liberty can be conceded to every man without injury
to the rights and authority of the sovereign power, and that every man
may retain it without injury to such rights, provided that he does not
presume upon it to the extent of introducing any new rights into the
state, or acting in any way contrary, to the existing laws.
(20:73) III. That every man may enjoy this liberty without detriment to the
public peace, and that no inconveniences arise therefrom which cannot easily
be checked.
(74) IV. That every man may enjoy it without injury to his allegiance.
(75) V. That laws dealing with speculative problems are entirely useless.
(76) VI. Lastly, that not only may such liberty be granted without prejudice
to the public peace, to loyalty, and to the rights of rulers, but that it is
even necessary, for their preservation. (77) For when people try to take it
away, and bring to trial, not only the acts which alone are capable of
offending, but also the opinions of mankind, they only succeed in
surrounding their victims with an appearance of martyrdom, and raise
feelings of pity and revenge rather than of terror. (78) Uprightness and
good faith are thus corrupted, flatterers and traitors are encouraged, and
sectarians triumph, inasmuch as concessions have been made to their
animosity, and they have gained the state sanction for the doctrines of
which they are the interpreters. (79) Hence they arrogate to themselves the
state authority and rights, and do not scruple to assert that they have been
directly chosen by God, and that their laws are Divine, whereas the laws of
the state are human, and should therefore yield obedience to the laws of God
- in other words, to their own laws. (80) Everyone must see that this is not
a state of affairs conducive to public welfare. (81) Wherefore, as we have
shown in Chapter XVIII., the safest way for a state is to lay down the rule
that religion is comprised solely in the exercise of charity and justice,
and that the rights of rulers in sacred, no less than in secular matters,
should merely have to do with actions, but that every man should think what
he likes and say what he thinks.
(20:82) I have thus fulfilled the task I set myself in this treatise.
[20:5] (83) It remains only to call attention to the fact that I have
written nothing which I do not most willingly submit to the examination and
approval of my country's rulers; and that I am willing to retract anything
which they shall decide to be repugnant to the laws, or prejudicial to the
public good. (84) I know that I am a man, and as a man liable to error, but
against error I have taken scrupulous care, and have striven to keep in
entire accordance with the laws of my country, with loyalty, and with
morality.
End of Part 4 of 4.
AUTHOR'S ENDNOTES TO THE THEOLOGICO-POLITICAL TREATISE
CHAPTER XVI.
[Endnote 26]. (1) "No one can honestly promise to forego the right which
he has over all things." (2) In the state of social life, where general
right determines what is good or evil, stratagem is rightly distinguished as
of two kinds, good and evil. (3) But in the state of Nature, where every man
is his own judge, possessing the absolute right to lay down laws for
himself, to interpret them as he pleases, or to abrogate them if he thinks
it convenient, it is not conceivable that stratagem should be evil.
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