Eric Walten (1663-1697)

In the Dutch Republic in particular, the early history of Spinozism is intimately connected with the history of Cartesianism. In assessing Eric Walten's relationship to Spinoza, this chapter concentrates on the last pamphlets he wrote in defence of Balthasar Bekker's De Betoverde Weereld . The core of Bekker's reasoning in De Betoverde Weereld is relatively simple. Bekker's stance boils down to a highly efficient combination of Cartesian dualism with a hermeneutics that centred around the notion of divine accommodation. On the whole, Walten's main interest seems to have been to oppose the political ambitions of the Calvinist orthodoxy. Both in France and to some extent in Germany, traces of early Spinozism have mainly been found among the proponents of radical Bible criticism and emerging materialism. It is quite clear that Spinozism was one of the main inspirations for the authors and the copyists of the clandestine literary culture in France. Keywords: Balthasar Bekker; Cartesian dualism; De Betoverde Weereld ; Dutch Republic; early Spinozism; Eric Walten

Enlightenment · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · History · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

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