The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza's Ethica

Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-90-04-20926-8
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 205/11, 318 Seiten, Format (B × H): 167 mm x 249 mm, Gewicht: 670 g

Reihe: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History / Brill's Texts and Sources in Intellectual History

The Vatican codex Vat. Lat. 12838, which contains the complete text of Spinoza’s Ethics, is the only surviving manuscript of this work and constitutes a document of great importance. On 23 September 1677, it was handed over to the Roman Holy Office by Spinoza’s former friend Niels Stensen who had converted to Catholicism in 1667. Thus, it predates the publication of the Opera Posthuma, which is dated 1677, but which did not in fact appear until the first months of 1678. Recent research and fresh documentation allow us to determine the several stages of the manuscript’s life before it reached Rome, where it was kept in the Archive of the Holy Office, and subsequently, transferred to the Vatican Apostolic Library, in 1922.

Leen Spruit received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam (1987), and is now lecturer of Dutch language and literature at the Sapienza University in Rome; publications include Il problema della conoscenza in Giordano Bruno (Naples 1988) and Species intelligibilis. From Perception to Knowledge (Leiden 1994-95); Catholic Church and Modern Science. Documents from the Roman Archives of the Holy Office and the Index, vol. I: The Sixteenth Century, 4 tomes, (Rome 2009, with Ugo Baldini)

Pina Totaro is senior research fellow at the Italian Research Council (ILIESI-CNR) in Rome; she has extensively published on the history of early modern philosophy, in particular Descartes and Spinoza; her publications include an annotated Italian translation of Spinoza’s Theological-Politial Treatise (Naples, Bibliopolis, 2007), a reprint of Spinoza’s Posthumous Works (Macerata, Quodlibet, 2008), and Instrumenta mentis. Contributi al lessico filosofico di Spinoza (Firenze, Olschki, 2009).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Spruit, Leen

Totaro, Pina

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
1. The Ethica from manuscript to prohibition
1.1. The frontispiece
1.2. The genesis of the text
1.3. Niels Stensen’s denunciation of Spinoza in 1677
1.4. The Lutheran foreigner
1.5. The Ethica on the Index
2. The manuscript Vat. Lat. 12838
2.1. Description
2.2. Transcription and notes
2.3. Recurring abbreviations
3. Vat. Lat. 12838 and Opera Posthuma
3.1. Variants, errors, and harmonization
3.1.1. Slight variations
3.1.2. Internal references
3.1.3. Probable errors
3.1.4. Word order
3.1.5. Different wordings
3.1.6. Omissions and additions in Opera Posthuma
3.1.7. Harmonization in Opera Posthuma
3.2. Evaluation

Chronology

Appendix
1. Printed pages in Vat. Lat. 12838
2. Niels Stensen’s denunciation of Spinoza’s philosophy to the Holy Office
3. Fragment of Giovanni Cristoforo Battelli’s censura of Christian Kortholt, De tribus impostoribus

Bibliography

Transcription

Über Autor(innen)

Leen Spruit received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam (1987), and is now lecturer of Dutch language and literature at the Sapienza University in Rome; publications include Il problema della conoscenza in Giordano Bruno (Naples 1988) and Species intelligibilis. From Perception to Knowledge (Leiden 1994-95); Catholic Church and Modern Science. Documents from the Roman Archives of the Holy Office and the Index, vol. I: The Sixteenth Century, 4 tomes, (Rome 2009, with Ugo Baldini)

Pina Totaro is senior research fellow at the Italian Research Council (ILIESI-CNR) in Rome; she has extensively published on the history of early modern philosophy, in particular Descartes and Spinoza; her publications include an annotated Italian translation of Spinoza’s Theological-Politial Treatise (Naples, Bibliopolis, 2007), a reprint of Spinoza’s Posthumous Works (Macerata, Quodlibet, 2008), and Instrumenta mentis. Contributi al lessico filosofico di Spinoza (Firenze, Olschki, 2009).