Editing Talk:Spinoza, Kaballah, and the Onset of Modernity

I'll do better citations and formatting in a bit, once I've got them worked out.

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The connection between Spinoza's infinite <i>deus sive natura</i> and the <i>ein sof</i> isn't too implausible, although many classical philosophers had similar ideas, and they also arise independently (e.g. in Taoism).

I don't see any connection between Spinoza's geometrical method and the numerology of the Kabbalah, which was not geometrical or even mathematical.  That numerology involved only trivial arithmetic and had neither axioms nor theorems.  It was a system for cherry-picking patterns from arbitrary strings of letters, exploiting the human tendency to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia apophenia], intended to lend support to the kabbalist's preferred interpretations and doctrines.
[[User:Stone|John David Stone]] 14:53, 28 December 2010 (CST)

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I think you're mostly right about numerology in the Kabbalah. I really only meant to suggest a cursory connection. I do maintain that there is a sort of geometry to the mystical way of thought. Have you seen diagrams of the sephirot, and the sephirot inside the sephirot? Perhaps it's not the rigorous, axiomatic, proof-theoretical kind of geometry, but it is <i>a</i> kind of geometry, at least. Clearly Spinoza goes far beyond this, but the notions of geometry and truth as commingled in <i>The Zohar</i> may have had a sort of inspirational effect.

--[[User:Isaac|Isaac]] 22:24, 28 December 2010 (CST)