On the Ethics of Baruch Spinoza

On a recent trip to the Hannah Arendt Collection housed in Bard College's Stevenson Library, we came across this copy of the works of the 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza.

Included in this particular volume are Spinoza's Ethics, selected letters, and On the Improvement of Human Understanding.

On pages 66 and 67 of Spinoza's Ethics, we see three discernible Arendt marginalia. The first and second both occur on page 66, with the former consisting of a single vertical line placed adjacent to the following passage:

God must be the sole cause, inasmuch as to him alone does existence appertain. (Prop. xiv. Coroll. i.)  Q.E.D.

The second annotation on page 66 includes a vertical line but is also preceded by two exclamation points, thereby signifying its special importance to Arendt.

This [the notion that God is not the cause of the essence of things and therefore the essence of things] (by Prop. xv.) is absurd. [Underline Arendt's] Therefore, God is the cause of the essence of things.  Q.E.D.

The final annotation on on the opposite page, page 67. It consists of three vertical lines placed to Spinoza's passage that reads,

Proof--Whatsoever is conditioned to exist and act, has been thus conditioned by God (by Prop. xxvi. and Prop. xxiv. Coroll.)

Want to share pictures of your own Arendt library?

Please send them to David Bisson, our Media Coordinator, at [email protected], and we will feature them on our blog!

The Hannah Arendt Collection at Bard College is maintained by staff members at the Bard College Stevenson Library. To peruse the collection's digital entries, please click here.

For more Library photos, please click here.