Vatican Manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethica

Leen Spruit received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam (1987), and is now lecturer of Dutch language and literature at the Sapienza University in Rome; publications include Il problema della conoscenza in Giordano Bruno (Naples 1988) and Species intelligibilis. From Perception to Knowledge (Leiden 1994-95); Catholic Church and Modern Science. Documents from the Roman Archives of the Holy Office and the Index, vol. I: The Sixteenth Century, 4 tomes, (Rome 2009, with Ugo Baldini)Pina Totaro is senior research fellow at the Italian Research Council (ILIESI-CNR) in Rome; she has extensively published on the history of early modern philosophy, in particular Descartes and Spinoza; her publications include an annotated Italian translation of Spinoza’s Theological-Politial Treatise (Naples, Bibliopolis, 2007), a reprint of Spinoza’s Posthumous Works (Macerata, Quodlibet, 2008), and Instrumenta mentis. Contributi al lessico filosofico di Spinoza (Firenze, Olschki, 2009).

"[...] it is clear that Spruit and Totaro’s transcription of the VMS will be an important resource for historians and philosophers for many years to come." - John Brandau, Johns Hopkins University, in: Seventeenth-Century News, pp. 100-102"[...] [D]e wereld [is] de ontdekkers van een eerder manuscript van de Ethica, dat eind 2011 door Brill is uitgegeven, met recht dankbaar. [...] Zonder The Vatican Manuscript of Spinoz's Ethica is [...] geen onderzoek van de tekst van de Ethica [...] mogelijk." - Henri Krop, in: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, Vol. 74, No. 2 (second quarter, 2012), pp. 351-353"Im Rahmen des grossen Projekts zur Erfassung der zwischen 1550 und 1800 von der Inquisition angestrengten Zensurverfahren und geführten Prozesse gegen Philosophen[...] ist einer der beteiligten Wissenschafter, Leen Spruit, auf ein Manuskript der «Ethik» aus dem Jahr 1675 gestossen, das somit zu Lebzeiten Spinozas angefertigt worden ist. Die geringfügigen Abweichungen vom gedruckten Text geben uns nun endlich die Gewissheit, dass Spinoza tatsächlich das geschrieben hat, was postum unter seinem Namen erschienen ist." - Christoph Lüthy, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (21 September 2011)"La pubblicazione di questo importante volume nella prestigiosa collana dei "Brill's Studies in Intellectual History" mostra quanto sia utile unire l'approccio della "storia filosofica della filosofia", la storia della filosofia tradizionale, con quello della "storia storica della filosofia", secondo il metodo d'indagine interdisciplinare messo a punto ieri dalla history of ideas e oggi dalla intellectual history." - Hansmichael Hohenegger, in: Sole 24 (18 September 2011)

• Introduction1. The Ethica from manuscript to prohibition1.1. The frontispiece1.2. The genesis of the text1.3. Niels Stensen’s denunciation of Spinoza in 16771.4. The Lutheran foreigner1.5. The Ethica on the Index2. The manuscript Vat. Lat. 128382.1. Description2.2. Transcription and notes2.3. Recurring abbreviations 3. Vat. Lat. 12838 and Opera Posthuma3.1. Variants, errors, and harmonization3.1.1. Slight variations3.1.2. Internal references3.1.3. Probable errors3.1.4. Word order3.1.5. Different wordings3.1.6. Omissions and additions in Opera Posthuma3.1.7. Harmonization in Opera Posthuma3.2. EvaluationChronology Appendix1. Printed pages in Vat. Lat. 128382. Niels Stensen’s denunciation of Spinoza’s philosophy to the Holy Office3. Fragment of Giovanni Cristoforo Battelli’s censura of Christian Kortholt, De tribus impostoribusBibliographyTranscription