58. - Esteem, Love of

Summary

Spinoza conceives of love of esteem (gloria) as an important part of human motivation, which makes it important to understanding his psychology, ethical theory, and political theory. In the Ethics, Spinoza defines gloria as joy accompanied by the idea of some action of ours that we imagine others praise (E3DA30). Given that Spinoza defines love as joy combined with an idea of a cause (E3p13s, E3DA6), gloria can be glossed as the love of the praise or esteem of others. Spinoza’s definition is likely informed by his reading of Hobbes’s Of the Citizen, which explains gloria as a species of joy that arises from imagining one’s own powers. However, in Hobbes this joy can be based on a person’s own assessment of their powers, whereas Spinoza’s definition implies that this joy necessarily arises from the esteem of others. In emphasizing the importance of esteem to glory, Spinoza may be influenced by Descartes’s Passions of the Soul, which regards esteem as critical to defining and distinguishing many emotions.