Affective therapy: Spinoza’s approach to self-cultivation

Spinoza is often portrayed as following the Stoics in proposing a purely intellectual therapy of the errors that underpin the passions, the passions that hold us bondage. This chapter argues that this portrayal is mistaken by showing that knowledge, instead of eliminating our emotions and desires, functions itself as an affective power in Spinoza’s view, thereby enabling the empowerment of the mind and the body. Affects are therefore better viewed resources for, rather than obstacles to, human self-cultivation. This interpretation is considered in light of Spinoza’s overall commitment to naturalism, especially the way he considered human beings as part of a deterministic world while at the same time holding on to his ideas about self-cultivation and the possibility of blessedness. I suggest that by developing the distinction between technical and practical knowledge, the possible tension between his views on naturalism and self-cultivation can be reduced. Once we understand the practical nature that Spinoza attributes to knowledge, it becomes possible to see how knowledge does not stand opposed to the passions, and how, in the end, Spinoza thinks that our greatest perfection lies in the knowledge and intellectual love of God