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87. - Hope and Fear

from H

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Donald Rutherford
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Spinoza recognizes the passions of hope (spes) and fear (metus) as basic forms of human motivation. Like most ancient philosophers, he believes that unregulated hopes and fears can adversely affect an agent’s mental state and that these passions are absent from the mind of a wise person. At the same time, and most originally, Spinoza argues that, when properly regulated, hope in particular plays a critical role in leading those who are not wise – the preponderance of people – to a safer and happier life.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 231 - 234
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Armstrong, A. (2009). Natural and unnatural communities: Spinoza beyond Hobbes. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 17, 279–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gatens, M., et al. (2021). Spinoza: Thoughts on hope in our political present. Contemporary Political Theory, 20, 200–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, S. (2020). Spinoza on superstition: Coming to terms with fear. In James, , Spinoza on Learning to Live Together (pp. 43–57). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeBuffe, M. (2018). Spinoza on Reason. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Matheron, A. (1969). Individu et communauté chez Spinoza. Éditions de Minuit.Google Scholar
Sharp, H. (2022). Spinoza on the fear of solitude. Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, 11, 137–62.Google Scholar
Steinberg, J. (2018). Spinoza’s Political Psychology: The Taming of Fortune and Fear. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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