The Linking of Spinoza to Chinese Thought by Bayle and Malebranche

Abstract

The Linking of Spinoza to Chinese Thought by Bayle and Malebranche YUEN-TING LAI THERE IS ONE ASPECT of Spinoza's thought which has largely escaped the attention of Spinoza scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the linkage of his philosophy to Chinese thought. This aspect has not been totally forgotten; it has had a sporadic history. Bayle and Malebranche led the way in creating this link, and their opinions were echoed in the eighteenth century by Count Henri de Boulainvillier, Jean Levesque de Burigny, Anthony Collins, and Jean Baptiste de Boyer, better known as Marquis d'Argens. 2 Earlier in this century, the linkage resurfaced in studies comparing Spinoza with the Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi. ~ This was the work of scholars whose interests were basically focused on comparative philosophy . The parallelling of Chu Hsi's thought with Spinoza's found favor I am profoundly grateful to Richard H. Popkin who first interested me in this subject.An early version of this paper was part of the program celebrating the 35oth anniversary of the birth of Spinoza organized by the Societyfor Study of the History of Philosophy,December 27, 1982. Subsequent versions have been read to various colloquiaat the PhilosophyDepartments of Dalhousie University, Memorial University, and York University in 1983. I appreciate the comments and criticismreceived during and after these occasions. I am indebted to Thomas M. Lennon for his criticism, to George L. Stengren for letting me consult his translation of Malebranche 's Entretien and Avis touchant L'entretien and to David Graham for his advice on seventeenth -century usages in French. See Count Henri de Boulainvillier,Essai de m~taphysique, in Oeuvresphilosophiques (La Haye: M. Nijhoff, 1973-75), Vol. a; Jean Levesque de Burigny, Histoire de la philosophie payenne (La Haye, 1724), 2 volumes; Anthony Collins,Letter to DodweU on the Immortality of the Soul (London, 1769) and Jean Baptiste de Boyer, better known as Marquisd'Argens, Lettres chinoises (La Haye, 1739-4o). See Wing-Tsit Chan, "The Study of Chu Hsi in the West,"Journal of Asian Studies 35, No. 4: 555-75. [151] 152 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY especially with J. P. Bruce and O. Graf, but other scholars such as W. E. Hocking, E. V. Zenker and Joseph Needham also made this connection. 4 In the last few years, comparisons of Spinoza and Oriental Philosophy have again been made by scholars, some of whom have strong interests in Spinoza , e.g., Paul Wienpahl, Jon Wetlesen, Arne Naess, and Siegfried Hessing. They connect aspects of his philosophy with Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, and, especially, Zen Buddhism. 5 The body of associated material provides interesting possibilities. For example, even a cursory examination shows that the linkage is usually based on two themes, monism and rationalism. Studies of this theoretical basis can perhaps prove to be sources of insight on perennial philosophy, My present interest, however, concerns its implications for the historian of philosophy. 6 The thesis of this paper is that Bayle's interest and Malebranche's interest are integral components of a little-known confrontation between Cartesianism and Neo-Confucianism, or what was then understood of it in Europe. I See J. P. Bruce, Chu Hsi and His Masters: an Introduction to Chu Hsi and the Sung School of Chinese Philosophy (London: Probsthain, 19z3); O. Graf, "Chu Hsi and Spinoza," Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Philosophy (Amsterdam, 1949), Vol. 1:238-42 and Dschu Hsi, Djin si lu, die sunkonfuzianische Summa mit dem Kommentar des Ya Tsai (Tokyo, Sofia University, 1953); W. E. Hocking, "Chu Hsi's Theory of Knowledge," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 1, (1936): lo9-27; E. V. Zenker, Geschichteder chinesischenPhilosophie (Reichenberg, 1926-1927); and Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), vol. 2. See Paul Wienpahl, The Radical Spinoza (New York: New York University Press, 1979); "Ch'an Buddhism, Western Thought, and the Concept of Substance," in Invitation to Chinese Philosophy, edited by Arne Naess and Alastair Hannay (Oslo, Bergen, Tromso: in Spinoza's Philosophy of Man, edited by Jon Wetlesen (Norway: Universitsforlaget, 1978), 211-94; Jon Wetlesen, The Sage and the Way (The Netherlands: Van Gorcum, Assen, 1979; New York: The...

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