Spinoza on the Nature of God: Participating in Collective Empowerment

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a very good article... and a nice title for its conclusion.

Do we know God by his thought (intellect) and movement, as you say, or by extension?Is it a mistake, or do you mean that extension is movement?

On typo I noticed: note 12 Alexanders... instead of Alexander's...

I appreciated the personal tone and the engagement with various philosophers, including Bergson...

The ascription of atheism to Spinoza, which you want to change to agnosticism, does not do full justice to his argument that the god he describes is not a personal God; nor does he have the characteristics ascribed to God in theism. And Spinoza does not seem to me to be an agnostic here: he does not say that he doesn't know, but argues for a view of God which is not compatible with agnosticism (as not knowing if the God of theism exists or not) nor with theism. 

I wanted to draw your attention to a new series at de Gruyter, Spinoza and His Legacy. If you have a book in you about Spinoza's attitude toward women, or Spinoza and Bergson, or something else... maybe you will be interested.

Author Response

"Do we know God by his thought (intellect) and movement, as you say, or by extension?Is it a mistake, or do you mean that extension is movement?"

Great questions, I make this more clear in the new version. Extension as the attribute of God is not space as infinitely divisible empty manifold, but is rather the powers of moving, resting, and the organizing of motion and rest. This also allow for my Bergsonian, Process interpretation which focuses on the process of actualization, which I now acknowledge in a footnote

 

"The ascription of atheism to Spinoza, which you want to change to agnosticism, does not do full justice to his argument that the god he describes is not a personal God; nor does he have the characteristics ascribed to God in theism. And Spinoza does not seem to me to be an agnostic here: he does not say that he doesn't know, but argues for a view of God which is not compatible with agnosticism (as not knowing if the God of theism exists or not) nor with theism." 

I should have been much clearer on this, my intention was merely to say that contemporary agnostic readers of Spinoza should recognize that Spinoza himself could not have been agnostic. I Think I have clarified this by connecting it with the concept of infinity.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Some interesting ideas are suggested in the abstract and are surfaced through the paper. The author knows and has thought about Spinoza in a range of contexts. However, this is not suitable for publication in an academic journal. It does not reflect scholarly research; nor is it adequately situated in a context of relevant literature. There is little argumentative shape to the piece. There are a lot of unsubstantiated assertions and generalizations, and the discussion of Spinoza (as well as other topics) is insufficiently grounded in primary texts. The tone of discussion is conversational rather than academic. Very few references are supplied in the notes and there is no bibliography.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are a number of errors of spelling, grammar, and expression.

Author Response

"Some interesting ideas are suggested in the abstract and are surfaced through the paper. The author knows and has thought about Spinoza in a range of contexts. However, this is not suitable for publication in an academic journal. It does not reflect scholarly research; nor is it adequately situated in a context of relevant literature. There is little argumentative shape to the piece.There are a lot of unsubstantiated assertions and generalizations, and the discussion of Spinoza (as well as other topics) is insufficiently grounded in primary texts. The tone of discussion is conversational rather than academic. Very few references are supplied in the notes and there is no bibliography."

Other reviewers have considered the style/tone of presentation to be a strength of the text, even if it is not conventional. I have added many more citations (in fact when I submitted the article, I told the editors I needed more time to add citations and they told me to not wait and take the time to add them but to just submit and to add them later.) So this if what I did to save time int eh process, and have now added them.

I have also made significant corrections to the English and will further refine with the editing service provided after acceptance.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is readable and insightful. The author presents a well-researched exploration of Spinoza’s thoughts on God’s nature, the concept of freedom, and our duty to moral action through communicative practices. I found the paper profound and engaging, and it persuasively argues that theology can help human communities cultivate ethical life.

My one concern concerns the paper’s fit with the special issue’s aims. The issue focuses on recent problems arising from human activity, technology, and scientific development, and on offering theological perspectives to address these problems. While the paper provides a strong interpretation of Spinoza, it does not sufficiently engage with these current problems or demonstrate how Spinoza’s proposals could address them in practice. The author sometimes mentions general problems but would benefit from more applied analysis showing how Spinoza’s framework could resolve or mitigate these issues.

I suggest the author to dd a section (or integrate a discussion) that maps Spinoza’s concepts to particular contemporary challenges (e.g., bioethics, digital ethics, climate ethics, AI governance, or social fragmentation).

Author Response

"...does not sufficiently engage with these current problems or demonstrate how Spinoza’s proposals could address them in practice."

Added to the final section and conclusion on how Spinozan intellectual generosity can help in the Polycrisis. I also added parts on the current application of Spinoza's ideas through out the whole text, expanding where relevant.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I read through the paper again and now I think that the paper has been improved enough to be accepted. The paper drawing on Spinoza's thoughts tries to suggest a peaceful, friendly and flourishing life for contemporary humanity. I recommend its publication. There are small number of typos in the paper that require a final polish.