Immortal «Part» of the Soul in Aristotle’s Teaching, in Spinoza’s Ethics, and in Peripatetic Maimonides’ Reception of the Rabbinic Doctrine of Man’s “Share in the World-to-Come”

Abstract

The author compares the ideas of Aristotle and Spinoza on the «immortality»/«eternity» of the wise one’s “mind”/“soul”, not excluding the Stagirite’s immediate influence on Spinoza in this aspect. The paper also deals with the possible influence of the rab­binic doctrine of one’s “share in the World-to-Come” in its Maimonides’ interpretation on Spinoza’s teaching concerning the eternal “part” of the wise one’s soul.

Keywords

• Aristotle
• Maimonides
• Spinoza
• immortal/eternal “part”/“share”/“portion” of man’s soul/mind