Deborin's materialist interpretation of Spinoza

Abstract

The interpretation of Spinoza's ph?osophy has been regarded by some ph?o sophers in the Soviet Marxist tradition as having a special importance.1 This view is based on the claim that the correct understanding of dialectical mate rialism is essentiaUy bound up with a proper understanding of the history of materialism. If Spinoza is one of the great materiaUst ph?osophers, then the interpretation of his ph?osophy is crucial to the correct understanding of dialectical materiaUsm. Both Plekhanov and one of his important students and foUowers, Deborin, thought that understanding the great materialists who preceded Marx, espe cially Spinoza, was crucial to a correct understanding of dialectical material ism. Plekhanov, the "father of Marxism in Russia",2 claimed that Marx's dialectical materialism was a "variety of Spinozism".3 (It is interesting to note that Plekhanov was apparently responsible for introducing the term "dialectical materialism".4) Deborin and his foUowers were very influential in the 1920s: "... the Deborinists held sway in aU institutions connected with teaching and popularizing ph?osophy or publishing ph?osophical works: but their triumph did not last long".5 Deborin's book, Introduction to the Philosophy of Dialectical Materialism, became a standard part of Soviet philosophical education in the 1920s.6 Given the position of Plekhanov and Deborin in the history and develop ment of Soviet dialectical materialism, it is worth inquiring whether their understanding of Spinoza was an accurate one. Was Spinoza in fact a mate rialist? Was he correctly understood by these Soviet ph?osophers as an important predecessor of Marx's dialectical materialism? This is the question I address in this paper. Whether the study of Spinoza's ph?osophy actually influenced the development and understanding of dialectical materialism in Soviet ph?osophy is an interesting question, but, unfortunately, one beyond the scope of this paper. In this paper I examine A. M. Deborin's materialist interpretation of Spinoza's metaphysics.7 Section I of the paper presents Deborin's interpreta tion and the evidence on which he based his interpretation. In Section II, I