The encounter between Lucretius and Spinoza

• Grant number: 14/25610-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2015
• End date: August 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: João Carlos Kfouri Quartim de Moraes
• Grantee: Diego Ramos Lanciote
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/01814-0 - The encounter between Lucretius and Spinoza, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The old materialism seems to have had great influence on the thinking of Spinoza, especially, the materialism of Lucretius. Considering the similarity between the two projects, both of Ethica, as the De Rerum Natura, seeking for knowing the nature of things a way for human conduct, we intend to analyze, taking as a starting point in the correspondence between Spinoza and Boxel, the sense of quotation of the name of Lucretius in the last epistle of Spinoza, in view of the conflict of elements given in the discussion in the correspondence as a whole. So, in search of its meaning, we will investigate the relationship that the old materialism have with the mature work of Spinoza, especially in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and Ethica. We will think the relationship between the works of Spinoza and Lucretius centering on the distinction between "aleatory necessity" and "teleological necessity" and examining provisionally three fundamental points of intersection between both: I) the immutability of the Whole, II) the movement of things and III) the imagination. We aim thereby elucidate the consequence and deepness of Lucretius thesis in Spinoza's philosophy so that we can understand the encounter between both authors. (AU)