Clinamen, necessity and modern receptions of epicureanism:

The figure of Spinoza

Autores

  • Kyriakos Fytakis Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25244/tf.v15i2.5024

Palavras-chave:

clinamen, Epicurismo, Lucrécio, metafísica modal, necessidade, Espinosa

Resumo

Early modern readings of Epicureanism carried various prejudices and the term epicurean often designated an impious and potentially dangerous thinker. This was the case for Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza whose contemporaries compared his doctrine to Epicureanism on several occasions. However, how accurate would it be to affirm that Spinoza’s philosophy belongs to the neo-epicurean tradition? We find such a comparison in many 17th and 18th century texts, especially in works written by critics of his thought, such as François Fénelon or Jean La Placette. Epicurean doctrine on chance was compared to Spinoza’s theory on necessity, but despite the prejudices of the comparison, both Epicurus’s and Spinoza’s philosophies had an important influence on the Enlightenment, namely on French materialists. In our paper, we proceed to an analysis of this comparison and shed light on one of the most influential receptions of Epicurus’s philosophy in modernity. In this perspective, we show their inherent relation and focus more particularly on their modal theories; we thus examine the reasons why- contrary to other cases- the comparison was based less on ethical and mostly on metaphysical matters and we show at what extent it is legitimate.

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Biografia do Autor

Kyriakos Fytakis, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Graduated from the department of Philosophy and Pedagogics at the University Aristotle of Thessaloniki in Greece in 2014, where also completed the Master in Systematic Philosophy in 2016. Admitted at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France, where completed the  Master in History of Philosophy in 2018 and since November 2018, preparing PhD at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. The doctoral research is about Baruch Spinoza’s reception in 17th century French philosophy, focusing mainly on its impact on French Cartesian Nicolas Malebranche and more generally on polemical readings and refutations written by Cartesian philosophers (François Lamy, Pierre Bayle etc.) at that time. During the past years, presented parts of this research in colloquiums and seminars in France and abroad and have been teaching undergraduate courses (Licence) in Modern Philosophy at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

 

Referências

Sources

Bayle, Pierre, Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, Paris: Classiques Garnier, 1697.

Fénelon, François De Salignac, Démonstration de L'Existence de Dieu (1713), https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k96099732 (consulted July 1st 2019).

Jacquelot, Isaac, Dissertations sur l’existence de Dieu. (1697), https://books.google.fr/books?id=lSmzwAEACAAJ&hl=fr (consulted July 1st 2019).

La Placette, Jean, Éclaircissements sur quelques difficultés (1709), https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k96330142 (consulted July 1st 2019).

Lucretius Carus, T., De Rerum Natura, translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, edited by Martin Ferguson Smith, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Spinoza, Baruch de, The Collected Works, Translated by Edwin Curley, Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Secondary literature

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DARMON, Jean-Charles. Philosophie Épicurienne et Littérature Au XVIIe Siècle En France: Études Sur Gassendi, Cyrano de Bergerac, La Fontaine, Saint-Evremond. 1re éd. Perspectives Littéraires. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1998.

GIGANDET, Alain, ed. Lucrèce et La Modernité: Le Vingtième Siècle. Recherches. Paris: Armand Colin, 2013.

GILLESPIE, Stuart, and Philip R. Hardie, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

LAGREE, Jacqueline. Spinoza et le débat religieux: lectures du Traité théologico-politique en hommage à Stanislas Breton. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2004.

LAVERAN, Sophie. Le Concours Des Parties: Critique de l’atomisme et Redéfinition Du Singulier Chez Spinoza. Les Anciens et Les Modernes : Études de Philosophie 18. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2014.

LEZRA, Jacques, and Liza Blake, eds. Lucretius and Modernity: Epicurean Encounters across Time and Disciplines. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

MEINSMA, Koenraad O. Spinoza et Son Cercle. Translated by S. Roosenburg. Paris: Vrin, 1984.

NORBROOK, David, S. J. Harrison, Philip R. Hardie, and University of Oxford, eds. Lucretius and the Early Modern. First edition. Classical Presences. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2016.

SALEM, Jean, ed. L’atomisme aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles: journée d’études organisée le dimanche 26 octobre 1997, à la Sorbonne par le Centre d’Histoire des Systèmes de Pensée Moderne. Publications de la Sorbonne Série philosophie 4. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1999.

WARREN, James, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

WILSON, Catherine. Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 2008.

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Publicado

2023-08-04

Como Citar

FYTAKIS, K. Clinamen, necessity and modern receptions of epicureanism:: The figure of Spinoza. Trilhas Filosóficas, [S. l.], v. 15, n. 2, p. 169–181, 2023. DOI: 10.25244/tf.v15i2.5024. Disponível em: https://periodicos.apps.uern.br/index.php/RTF/article/view/5024. Acesso em: 5 out. 2024.

Edição

Seção

Dossiê Epicurismo antigo e sua recepção (v.15, n.2, 2022)