Spinoza as educator: The witt (ingenium) of the Free Man

Abstract

Education is not itself a topic developed by Spinoza in his works. However, it is not misleading to recognize an educational interest in his thought. The few explicit allusions to the subject and his sense of community make it possible to identify a thread in his philosophy concerning education, interweaved with other central notions: The affirmation of potency, the affective dynamics, the image of the sage, and the composition of a community. This paper intends on following this thread of education in Spinoza‘s thought. Its standpoint will be the relationships that might be called 'education relations‘. Who are to be considered educators, which is their role and how is it carried on, which are their aims; such are the aspects that will be examined concerning education in the life and works of Spinoza.