Sunday, June 7, 2020

Footnote Bn47

Bn47.  In 1709, Jean La Placette upbraided Spinoza thus:
once one has stated that there is no liberty in the world and that men only do what they cannot prevent themselves doing, it is obvious they are no more worthy of praise or blame for anything they do than is a stone falling from above when what held it up is removed... In short, wherever there is absolute physical necessity, there cannot be virtue or vice or anything worthy of praise or blame.
Eclaircissemens sur quelques difficultez by Placette, cited in Bodies of Thought -- Science, Religion, and the Soul in the Early Enlightenment by Ann Thomson (Oxford 2008).
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