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Spinoza is now in a position to conclude that, contrary to the view held by the Voetians, philosophy and theology are distinct and ‘neither is the handmaid of the other’. Philosophy aims at truth, theology at obedience, and since these are separate goals there need be no conflict between them. His argument builds on positions developed by Dutch Cartesians; but unlike these writers, Spinoza significantly diminishes the domain of theology and enlarges that of philosophy. The Treatise consequently faces the objection that, although it presents theology and philosophy as equal, it implicitly...

Spinoza is now in a position to conclude that, contrary to the view held by the Voetians, philosophy and theology are distinct and ‘neither is the handmaid of the other’. Philosophy aims at truth, theology at obedience, and since these are separate goals there need be no conflict between them. His argument builds on positions developed by Dutch Cartesians; but unlike these writers, Spinoza significantly diminishes the domain of theology and enlarges that of philosophy. The Treatise consequently faces the objection that, although it presents theology and philosophy as equal, it implicitly makes philosophy the more powerful of the two. This chapter explains the nature of this asymmtery by relating it to a Ciceronian account of honestas. According to Spinoza, theology provides an imperfect, imaginatively based account of the true honestas or virtue that only philosophers can fully achieve. Thus conceived, philosophy becomes a form of religion.