148. - Political Treatise

Summary

Unfinished and overshadowed by the Ethics and the TTP, Spinoza’s TP is nevertheless a major work. The TP establishes the basic principles of Spinoza’s political thought, identifies “the highest end” at which a commonwealth can aim, and outlines the institutional structure most conducive to security and peace for several regime types. It is somewhat surprising that the TP is relatively neglected by commentators, given that, as Edwin Curley observes, it “offers us the materials for a much deeper understanding of Spinoza’s political philosophy than we could gain from his other works” (2016a, 491). Given that it was Spinoza’s final work, cut short by his untimely death, it contains his most mature philosophical views on the subject of politics. Pierre-François Moreau, editor of several French editions of Spinoza’s writings, claims that it is also his most “autonomous” work, comprising the views that are most his own, developed independently of the natural law traditions and Cartesianism (2005, 79).