Greetings to all
I have with great pleasure read Will Durant's IV chapter in The Story of Philosophy on Spinoza, and I found a most intriguing passage in which he cites a correspondance Spinoza had. I haven't been able to find out which correspondance it is and with whom, but it's of great importance to me to find out because it seems my philosophy teacher at my university has misinterpreted Spinozas philosophy, so I'm hoping someone here can help. This is what the text reads :
A passage from Spinoza’s correspondence may help-us:
“I take a totally different view of God and Nature from that which the later Christians usually entertain, for I hold that God is the immanent, and not the extraneous, cause of all things. I say, All is in God; all lives and moves in God. And this I maintain with the Apostle Paul, and perhaps with every one of the philosophers of antiquity, although in a way other than theirs. I might even venture to say that my view is the same as that entertained by the Hebrews of old, if so much may be inferred from certain traditions, greatly altered or falsified though they be. It is however a complete mistake on the part of those who say that my purpose ... is to show that God and Nature, under which last term they understand a [162] certain mass of corporeal matter, are one and the same. I had no such intention.” 37
Reference 37 points to Epistle 21, but from what I can gather that is in the Bible, so not quite what I'm looking for.
If anyone can help I will be forever grateful, thank you in advance
Best regards
Flemming Pedersen, Student at Southern University of Denmark
