JUDAISM. – Religion and institutions of the people of Israel, which took definitive form from the time of the Babylonian exile (6th century B.C.), when Israel was reduced to the single tribe of Judah (v.). Before the exile, the Hebrew religion had as its supreme “mediator” (Gal. 3:20) Moses (v.), whose Law (v.) contains the norms of the religious and social life of the people, founded on the doctrinal cornerstones of monotheism and retribution. The principal representatives and interpreters of this religion were the Patriarchs (v.) and the Prophets (v.), while the leaders of the people and the ministers of worship (priests and Levites) had the task of safeguarding its tradition.
Judaism consists of beliefs and practices, derived from the Bible and tradition, which constitute the common patrimony of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and also of popular circles.
The written sources for the knowledge of Judaism are, in addition to the Bible: 1) the works of Philo; 2) the works of Flavius Josephus; 3) various rabbinic writings: a) the juridical books of the 2nd and 3rd centuries (Megillath Ta'anith, Mishna, Tosefta) and the commentaries on the last four books of Moses, of a predominantly juridical character (Mekhilta, Sifra, Sifre, to which may be added the Seder 'Olam, a kind of chronicle); b) Targum (v.); c) Talmud (v.); d) the Midrash (v.). The Old Testament apocrypha are also of some use for understanding the ideological environment in which Judaism took shape.
OUTLINE:
I. Religion
II. Philosophy during the Middle Ages.I. RELIGION
The Jewish people is essentially a religious people. For them, God is both Father and King, but He is also the Holy One, whose holiness the people are bound to reflect. Relations with God are expressed through worship (a means of rendering homage to the transcendent God) and the observance of rules that aim to consecrate man to God. The religion is fundamentally national.1. God
The existence of God is a given fact and needs no proof: God can only be known through revelation; He is the only one, and outside of Him there are no other gods.Despite numerous anthropomorphisms, there is a tendency (and increasingly so from the 3rd century B.C. onward) to emphasize the transcendence of God. The tetragrammaton name of God, Yahweh, the proper, personal name of God, is replaced by 'Adonai (“Lord”), and in the Targum, God is even indicated by Mêmra' (“Word”). This is probably due, among other things, to the fear of idolatrous profanations. The transcendence of God is especially emphasized in the apocryphal writings, while the rabbis are more reserved; indeed, they seem to have considered it extremely dangerous for a man who was not “wise and intelligent” to delve too deeply into this study. An important attribute of God is His “holiness”; for Isaiah, God is “the Holy One of Israel”; the qaddish and qedushah prayers celebrate the holiness of God. From the 2nd century onward, the invocation “the Holy One, blessed be He” is very frequent among the rabbis. God is the source of all holiness, and by this epithet is meant absolute purity and infinite power; this holiness, existing in absolute terms in God, is communicated, in a relative way, to men through the covenant (berith), imposing upon them certain obligations so that they may become worthy of God, the greater party in the covenant. The power of God is an integral part of His “holiness”: God performs miracles to be sanctified among the peoples; therefore, demonstrations of impotence and the defeats of the holy people are profanations of the “name of God.” The power of God coincides with our concept of Providence: God constantly watches over His people. As for whether or not God acts in the soul of man, the Palestinian doctors limit themselves to believing that God assists man in the path he himself has chosen; while many apocryphal writings affirm that God gives man a pure heart. Opinions on predestination vary: the Pharisees, according to Flavius Josephus, manage to reconcile fate and human freedom, while the Essenes place no limits on destiny, and the Sadducees deny it altogether.
God, however, is present everywhere, and Gamaliel affirms that God revealed Himself in a burning bush to demonstrate that “there is no empty place in the shekinah” (a term derived from a verb meaning “to dwell,” indicating the presence of God, felt as “glory” and as assistance).
Miracles are universally recognized, yet there is a tendency to consider the ordinary providential activity as more important than miracles themselves, and it is affirmed that miracles cannot prevail against rabbinic decisions that have the force of law.
Between the justice and mercy of God, the latter tends to prevail over the former; and the problem of God’s justice, in light of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous, seems to have been resolved by R. Aqiba (d. 135): the prosperity of the wicked is the reward they receive, before being cast into the fire of Gehenna, for whatever merits they may have had; the sufferings of the righteous serve to purify them of their faults, so that they may, completely pure, enjoy the happiness of the afterlife.
2. Angelology
Angels (v.) appear frequently in the Bible, but angelology develops especially among the rabbis and in apocryphal literature. Angels share in the attributes of God and especially in His holiness. Their mission is to surround God in heaven and in His theophanies on earth. Gradually, the concept of the guardian angel develops. Angelic categories multiply, and Metatron assumes great importance; he sometimes seems to be the personification of God Himself; by the end of the 3rd century, he appears as an assistant to Yahweh, with whom he shares the throne; as celestial scribe, he records the merits of Israel.Opposite to the good angels are the destructive angels, evil and impure spirits. They are spoken of abundantly Enoch (v.), the Jubilees (v.), the Testaments (v.) of the patriarchs, BARÙ (v.). The chief of the demons, according to various traditions, is Satan, Belial, Samael, Mastema, Azazel, or Beelzebub.
3. The chosen people
The concept of the chosen people is one of the most important pillars of Judaism. The election, as is repeatedly read in the Bible, took place as a choice of God alone, and its first realization in history is found in the story of the patriarchs; however, in the covenant made between God and the people, mediated by Moses, He subjected the free will of Israel to accept or reject His choice.Later elaboration of this doctrine tends to diminish the promises made to Abraham while exalted national particularism, and at the same time attributes the choice of God to the merits of the people of Israel itself, so that the biblical notion and that of Jewish theology regarding the covenant present significant divergences, and it is even said that a single Israelite is worth before God all the peoples of the earth (Sifre on Deut. 14:2) and that Israel is the only people of God (Mekhilta on Ex. 15:13-16).
The greatest gift that God has given to the chosen people is the Torah (the Law), and God gave it to Israel because He foresaw that only Israel would be able to receive II. In the Torah, the Jewish people finds the basis of its religion, for it contains a review of its fundamental beliefs and the promulgation of the rules for all its life. The principal object of the Sinai revelation is the “ten words” (v. DECALOGUE) inscribed on the Tablets and received by Moses. The Law is divided into written and oral. The former is that which is read in the “Book” (the Scriptures were first divided into Law and Prophets, a division already found in the 2nd century B.C.; then, perhaps from the 1st century B.C., into Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa); it is the word of God and as such is sacred; the various authors, inspired by God, faithfully reproduce thoughts and words not their own.
The oral law had the task of adapting the Law to particular cases, and, in theory, of making the Law easier to apply. In reality, it was very different; it is enough to consider that the rabbis came to enumerate 613 commandments, 248—the number of the bones of the human body—positive ones, and 365—the number of days in the solar year—negative ones. To give greater authority to this law, an attempt was made to trace it back to Moses himself, who, on Sinai, would have received from God the revelation of all rabbinic decisions as well; Moses would have transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the prophets, and so on (Ābhōth, I, 1-12).
The Law must be observed, because every Israelite is bound to promote the Kingdom of God and to “sanctify the Name”; great importance is, however, attached to the idea of sanction. The fundamental principle is: every action is followed by a reward or by a punishment. At the end of the year, the merits and demerits of each man are calculated, and, according to the prevalence of one or the other, the man is classified among the righteous or the wicked; but the sentence will be applied only on the Day of Atonement, and until then it is possible to change it through good conduct. The principle followed is a mathematical one, yet the measure of rewards is wider than that of punishments (Siphrāh on Lev. 5, 18). The rewards are generally applied in this world and are chiefly of a temporal and material nature.
4. Sin
Originally, it was any violation, even involuntary, of the Law. Gradually, however, a subtle casuistry developed, which analyzes the human act in depth and admits that even purely internal acts are sins: that is, sins of the gaze, of desire, etc. (Niddāh, 13 b; Zabhth, II, 2). Sin is considered as impurity, profanation, and denial of divine holiness. It entered the world with the rebellion of Adam.Sin is expiated, according to Mosaic law, by sacrifice; Leviticus mentions first the sacrifice for sin; but the great expiation takes place on the day of kippūr or “atonement” (v.). Before Jesus Christ, the value of expiation through suffering, death, and above all martyrdom seems to have been universally recognized (2 Macc. 7, 37; Siphrē on Num. 25, 13, etc.). Penance requires as a preliminary act the confession and reparation of wrongs done; it is open to all and obtains complete forgiveness.
5. The Temple
It is the house of God, the purest and most holy place; sacrifices are offered there. However, with the passage of time, liturgy gives ever greater importance to prayer. Thus synagogues arise, already very numerous in Jesus’ time, places of prayer and study of the Law. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., the priesthood and sacrificial worship disappeared, and all religious practice was reduced to biblical reading and the prayers of the synagogue (v.).6. The feasts
The principal feasts were and are: the Feast of Tabernacles (v.), originally an agricultural feast that recalled the period spent in the desert; Passover (v.), in memory of the liberation from Egypt; Pentecost (v.), an agricultural feast that later became the commemoration of the gift of the Law on Sinai. A distinctly national character was had by: the Feast of Dedication, which recalled the victory of Judas Maccabeus (v.); the Feast of Purim (v.), which celebrated the triumph of Esther over Haman. Other feasts aim to revive the spirit of piety and penance, among which: the beginning of the year, rōsh hash-shānāh, and the Day of Atonement, kippūr. Every day is consecrated to God through various prayers, at the moment of waking and sleeping, of putting on and removing garments, of eating, etc. (v. BENEDIZIONE).7. Morality
It is an integral part of religion, because it is God Himself who dictates its rules. It is distinguished by a delicate humanity, whereby children, women, the poor, and in general whoever is weak and in need, are the object of care and protection: the dignity of woman must be respected; slaves, who were part of the family, must be treated well; innumerable and delicate prescriptions protect the poor; almsgiving obtains every temporal good and is called “the salt of wealth” (Kēthubhōth, 66 b), its value lying in the charity that inspires it (Sukkāh, 49 b). Superior to almsgiving are works of charity, which engage the whole person. Such rules, however, bind the Israelite only in relation to another Israelite; in relation to the Gentiles, the line of conduct to be followed is different, as is the love of God toward Israelites and other peoples.8. Eschatology
On this point, ideas are varied and rather vague; Holy Scripture itself offers no sure data. Some, in Jesus’ time, still believe in the sē’ōl (v.), the common abode of the dead; others, however, begin to consider it a place of punishment for the wicked (Ps. Sol. 1, 6, 16, 2; 17) and place the righteous in the bosom of Abraham (4 Macc. 12, 17; 18, 23) or in the garden of Eden. Few admit that the righteous will go to “the most holy place of heaven” to then put on pure bodies (Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud., III, 8, 5).9. Messianism
Jewish messianism has its center of interest in national restoration. From certain passages of the Gospel, from the histories of Flavius Josephus, and from the few rabbinic sayings of Jesus’ time, it is evident that in that period the expectation of the Messiah—in particular among the people—was still alive. National restoration was conceived as taking place in this world, or in a new land of wonderfully fertile soil; others believed it would occur together with the resurrection of the dead.In the Apocalypse of Ezra, the coming of a messianic era is believed in, followed, at the consummation of the ages, by resurrection and judgment; messianism and eschatology are in fact often confused. Some sought to know the date of the Messiah’s coming through calculations or predicted signs, while deeper spirits preached that the event would be determined solely by a spirit of penance (Sanhedrin, 97 b, 98 a). The concept of the Messiah as a being belonging to the sphere of divinity—clear enough in the Old Testament—is found only in the apocrypha, while the rabbis strove to strip the Messiah of every divine aura (Sanhedrin, 38 b).
The Hebrew Bible also represented the Messiah as one who would endure great sufferings. Judaism at first accepted this representation of the Messiah, then rejected it, in reaction to nascent Christianity, and so the passages that speak of the Messiah’s sufferings are either interpreted differently or applied to another Messiah, called the Messiah of Ephraim or of Joseph, who is not of the line of David, and whose figure arises toward the end of the 2nd century. This Messiah will conquer Rome and all hostile nations; to achieve victory he accepts death, though this death has no expiatory value.
The central point of messianic restoration is the return from exile; this event will be accompanied by wonders and miracles (Mekhiltah on Ex. 14, 24), and by some is attributed to God Himself rather than to the Messiah. God plays a most important part in the institution of the messianic kingdom. He directs all things, using persons who are merely His instruments.
II. Philosophy during the Middle Ages
The book of Jeremiah and some psalms allude to the problem of theodicy, Ecclesiastes contains philosophical considerations, the deuterocanonical sapiential books show here and there the influence of Greek philosophy, while in the Talmud only vague references to Greek philosophical thought are found, and proper philosophy is never treated. Jewish-Hellenistic thought, represented mainly by Philo (v.) of Alexandria, exerted little influence within the Jewish milieu. A philosophical movement is discernible within Judaism only during the Middle Ages. At that time, philosophy was regarded as the highest form of religious knowledge; an attempt was made to understand the Bible philosophically as well; philosophical thought made itself felt in liturgical compositions and preaching.In its origins, Jewish religious philosophy followed Islamic kalām and later Neoplatonism and Arabic Aristotelianism. In the late Middle Ages, Jewish philosophy spread among Jewish groups in Christian Spain and Provence and in Italy, coming under, alongside Islamic influence, also—though later—Scholastic influence. Within Judaism, interest in Arabic philosophy remained prevalent, partly due to the fact that, under Islamic influence and in correspondence with Islam, various sects arose, the most important being that of the Karaites (v.), which required a work of defense that, while concerning the biblical-exegetical and juridical-religious domain, had to resort to philosophical arguments. Moreover, there was a need to undertake an apologetic defense against Islam, which urged the conversion of Jews to the word of Muhammad. The polemic culminated in philosophy. If Muhammad’s revelation, it was argued, were true after other divine revelations also recognized as true, how could the metaphysical problem of the constancy of God’s will be explained?
Saʿadiah Gaʾon (882–942 A.D.) is the exponent of this viewpoint in the Jewish field. He polemicized against the Jewish heretic Ḥiwī al-Balkhī (in present-day Afghanistan), who in his destructive critique of the Bible denied divine omniscience and justice, and preferred Zoroastrian dualism to biblical monotheism. The Karaite Benjamin of Nahawand (c. mid-9th century) maintained that God created an angel who then became the creator of the world and the author of prophetic inspiration. This appears to reflect the influence of Philo’s thought. Man was created not in the likeness of God but of the supreme angel. As a result of these currents, both Islamic and Jewish kalām had to engage in a struggle against Zoroastrian dualism. The criterion of authority in discussions about the truth of individual religions gave way to that of reason as a common basis for all. The doctrine that nature itself gives man faith in God goes back to Stoicism. As a result of these circumstances, the theology of the Muʿtazilah (v. ISLAM), which originally confined itself to rationalizing religious ideas by adapting them to the needs of theoretical and moral reason, came to demonstrate the existence of God, to prove through logic the necessity of revelation and the authenticity of Islamic revelation, thereby creating a rationalism consistent with faith in revelation.
Unlike the Islamic Neoplatonists and Aristotelians, who dealt with philosophy as a whole, Jewish thinkers limited themselves to topics of a philosophical-religious nature. There are, however, exceptions, and thus among Jewish Neoplatonists, Isaac Israeli (c. 850–950 A.D.) and Solomon ibn Gabirol (b. 1020, d. 1070) dealt with natural philosophy and metaphysics quite independently of religious philosophy; among the late medieval Aristotelians, Levi ben Gershom (v. GERSONIDES, 1288–1344) and Moses of Narbonne (d. 1362) commented on the writings of Ibn Rushd concerning logic and the natural sciences, but most Jewish thinkers concerned themselves with philosophical-religious problems, centering their work on the Bible. In this field, David ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas and, after him, Saʿadiah followed kalām. Saʿadiah is to be regarded as the founder of medieval Jewish religious philosophy; in his philosophical activity he followed the rationalistic-Muʿtazilite trend, close to Judaism in that it developed the concepts of the existence and unity of God and of free will. At the basis of his philosophy lies the doctrine of the relationship between reason and Revelation, the latter conceived as a mark of truth. Neither in Saʿadiah nor in his followers is this a question of the relationship between reason and religion, the latter conceived as a general function of human consciousness, but rather between reason and a specific religion, without, however, denying that reason is the basis of various religions. The metaphysical truths and moral postulates of a religion are independent of human reason. Revelation offers ultimate truths even to those who cannot attain them through their own reason, without, however, dispensing the individual from striving to reach the truth through reason. This way of thinking is also found in Maimonides (v. , 1135–1204) and in Christian Scholasticism. Through reason one must demonstrate what is true in Revelation, which is entirely true. Interpretation tends to harmonize the sacred text with reason. The world (and here Saʿadiah follows Aristotle) is a limited entity, bodies are composite, hence the world is not eternal, and what is composite requires the existence of a Creator, a single Creator (against dualism). The fundamental predicates of the creating God are: life, power, and wisdom. The fundamental attributes of God are: unity and incomparability. The attributes of God are one with God (and here the influence of Greek philosophy and of the Muʿtazilah is evident), a concept that foreshadows the negation of attributes.
Divine prescription does not prejudice human free will, since the soul is independent despite divine prescription. Attributes of the soul are: substantiality, incorporeality, and unity. At the resurrection of the dead, the soul will reunite with the body to receive the reward of eternal life.
The rationalist kalām continued to exert its influence on the thought of the Rabbanites (i.e., the followers of rabbinic law in contrast to the Karaites), such as Samuel ben Hophni (d. 1013), Nissim ben Jacob of Qayrawan in North Africa, but also on the thought of notable Karaites, such as Joseph ben Abraham (early 15th century) and his disciple Jehoshua ben Judah (mid-15th century). They surpassed Saʿadiah in rationalism.
Neoplatonism manifests itself in the aforementioned JĪSHĀQ JĪSRĀ'ĒLĪ, more a physician than a philosopher. The essence of philosophy lies in the ideal of the imitatio Dei, in man’s approach to God within the limits of human possibility, and this is also what religion postulates. Right knowledge has as its effect right action. To the concept of creation, Isaac associates that of emanation. All creatures have come forth into the light of the intellect, the immediate work of God. There arises the intellect, the soul, nature. The soul is rational, animal, and vegetative, according to a graduated emanation.
ŠĒLŌMŌH B. GĒBĪHŌRŌL, a pillar of Jewish philosophy in Spain (he is the supposed Moslem or Christian philosopher Avicebrol or Avencebrol), follows in his Fons vitae the Neoplatonic system, not as a general religious conception, but as a metaphysical system. His power as a thinker is demonstrated not so much in his dialectic, which often struggles with concepts without managing to master them, as in the energy with which he draws all the consequences from the basic concepts. At the center of his labors stands the relationship between matter and form conceived as two realities, two powers in themselves. For Aristotle, the two factors signify potentiality and actuality; becoming is thus the passage from one to the other. He brings together the two correlative concepts: genus and species. By means of the concept of prime matter and form, he arrives at the monistic construction of reality. Prime matter is the genus generalissimum. Even the psychology of GĒBĪHŌRŌL is under the influence of the Aristotelian. GĒBĪHŌRŌL surpasses in speculative interest all other Jewish Neoplatonists.
Less consistent in Neoplatonism is the moralist BABJĀ B. PĀQŪDĀ (d. ca. 1080). An adherent of Neoplatonism is the anonymous author (between the 15th and 16th centuries) of the book On the Essence of the Soul (erroneously attributed to GĒBĪHŌRŌL), akin in thought to the mathematician and astronomer 'ĀBHRĀḤĀM BEN ḤIJJĀ of Barcelona (early 16th century). Neoplatonism mingled with Aristotelianism and Muʿtazilite doctrines underlies the thought of JŌSĒPH B. ŠĀDĀQ (d. 1149). He is close to GĒBĪHŌRŌL in his subject matter: matter and form. Last in the series of Jewish Neoplatonists is 'ĀBHRĀḤĀM BEN MĒ'IR BEN 'EZRĀ' (ca. 1092-1167). His philosophical excursuses in biblical commentaries do not represent a closed system.
Outside any philosophical school is the poet and thinker JUDAH HA-LEVI (ca. 1085 - ca. 1141), opposed to the incipient Aristotelianism that insinuates itself into Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonism. Judah ha-Levi considers Aristotelianism an enemy of revealed religion.
The first Jewish Aristotelian was ABRAHAM IBN DAWUD (d. ca. 1180). Jewish religious teaching is equivalent to truth, hence to... Aristotelianism! And precisely to the Aristotelianism of Ibn Sīnā. God is the Unmoved Mover; the cause, not caused, of the existence of all things. The soul is the entelechy of an organic natural body. Prophetic revelation does not proceed from God, but from the Active Intellect and is devoid— and herein lies its merit—of fantastic elements (Maimonides considers prophetic revelation the work of intellect and imagination).
The originality of MAIMONIDES (1135-1204) is manifested not in the novelty of his thought, but in his tendency to create a synthesis between the identical elements contained in Greek, Aristotelian philosophy, and revealed doctrine, thus linking himself to his predecessors from Saʿadiah onward. Religious faith is a form of knowledge attainable through philosophical knowledge. Philosophy is the central element of religion. Philosophy leads to God and gives a constant light, unlike the light of metaphysics, which gives flashes, glimpses, that appear and disappear. This is a momentary intuition, and prophetic intuition represents a higher form than the philosophical, but philosophy receives it and associates it with its own.
God is necessary, He is the Unmoved Mover; He is the unique source of metaphysical knowledge and of man’s love of God. From this knowledge, through communion with God, man derives the immortality of the soul. Religion is thus intellectualized. The 16th century becomes the period of revolt against philosophy and the rationalistic elaboration of religious values within Judaism. It began to be noted that the salvation of the soul occupied in the mind of Maimonides, the philosopher par excellence, a higher place than that of messianic redemption. The philosophers JŌSĒPH BEN YEHŪDĀH BEN 'AQN (end of the 16th century), ŠĒMŪ'ĒL BEN PALQERA (d. ca. 1290), the Italian HILLEL BEN ŠĒMŪ'ĒL (d. ca. 1291), his contemporary JĪSHĀQ AL-BALAG, MOSHEH OF YEHŌSHŪA' OF NARBONNE (d. 1362), LEVI BEN GERSON (Gersonides, 1288-1344) all move within the sphere of Aristotelian rationalism and Jewish religious thought.
In the first half of the 16th century the Talmudist and biblical exegete MOSHEH BEN NAḤMĀN (NAḤMĀNIDES) seeks to mitigate the struggle against philosophy, but demands a clear separation from Aristotelianism.
The critic of Christian dogmas ḤASDAI CRESCAS (ca. 1340-1410) opposes Aristotelianism and the intellectualization of religion; he subjects Aristotelian physics and the concept of the Unmoved Mover to acute criticism. To the multitude of beings whose existence is possible he opposes the Absolute Being of God, and with this the existence of God is demonstrated. Not thinking in itself, but goodness is the principal attribute of God.
Even ŠIMʿŌN BEN ŠEMĀḤ DURAN (1361-1441) admits positive attributes in God that do not impinge upon the unity of God. As regards the human soul (nēšāmāh): it is not material and draws its origin from God. The influence of the Qabbalah is now noted.
The Dogmas ('Iqqārīm) of JŌSĒPH ALBO (d. 1444) are based on the thought of Maimonides, Ḥasdai Crescas, and Duran. A tendency toward eclecticism is noted. Philosophical life wavers. The Kabbalist ŠĒMŪ'ĒL BEN YŌSĒPH BEN ŠĒMŪ'ĒL (d. ca. 1440) attacks philosophy and Maimonides to the core, for tending to set limits to the supernatural action of God, to superimpose philosophy upon the Tōrāh, the unbelieving philosopher upon the believing confessor of the Tōrāh. His son, YŌSĒPH BEN ŠĒMŪ'ĒL, seeks to define Aristotelianism, inasmuch as it is not devoid of religious tendencies.
Even JĪSHĀQ ABRAVANEL (1437-1509) seeks to mitigate the anti-religious or religious character of philosophy, bringing the latter close to religion. In place of the “living, warm, and historical intuition of Judah ha-Levi,” he presents a supernaturalism of a scholastic type.
To the humanistic movement are linked the names of the Italian Jewish philosophers or those residing in Italy: YEHŪDĀH BEN MESSER LEON, ALEINANN JŌḤĀNĀN OF ISAAC (ca. 1435-1504), ELIA DEL MEDIGO (ca. 1460-1493), LEONE EBREO or YEHŪDĀH OF JĪSHĀQ ABRAVANEL, YŌSĒPH ŠĒLŌMŌ DEL MEDIGO (1591-1655).
Jewish philosophy exercised a notable influence on the system of Spinoza.