The Spinoza Problem

by Irvin D. Yalom, MD

In alternating chapters, author Irving Yalom tells the stories of Alfred Rosenberg, who put Hitler's theories of racial superiority into words for the masses, and Baruch Spinoza, a philosopher who was excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1656 for his belief in rationalism.

Rosenberg's ideas helped the Nazis justify genocide and was hung after his conviction at Nuremberg. Spinoza was a rationalist who laid the foundations of the Enlightenment and modern thought.

The historical Alfred Rosenberg removed Spinoza's library from the Spinoza Museum in Rijnsburg, Holland, because, he said, the books were of "great importance for the exploration of the Spinoza problem."

The story was Yalom's inspiration for the book. What was the "Spinoza problem"? In this book, it appears to be Rosenberg's inability to explain the brilliance of Spinoza if, as he lectured his fellow Germans, Jews were so inferior.

As interesting as the contrasting chapters are, both men have repelling qualities. Rosenberg is an irrational bigot poorly equipped intellectually to even understand Spinoza. Spinoza, on the other hand, today might be diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome. A loner completely committed to rationality, he was better able to stand excommunication from his community than most people.

While it is difficult to understand how Germans gave men like Hitler and Rosenberg such stature, power and influence, it is less difficult to understand why the Jewish community of Amsterdam could excommunicate such a brilliant philosopher. Just 164 years after Spain expelled its Jewish residents, the community in Amsterdam was deeply sensitive to their fragile standing in Christian Holland. Spinoza's ideas threatened the terms of the agreement that allowed them to stay in Holland.

This book makes it easy to get a basic understanding of Spinoza's philosophy. As a novel, having two stories that don't intersect is awkward.

The Author: Irving D. Yalom, MD

The son of Russian immigrants who ran a grocery store in Washington, D.C., Yalom is considered an existential psychiatrist and is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University.

He earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine.

As an existential psychiatrist, he believes there are four givens of the human condition:

• Isolation 
• Meaninglessness 
• Mortality, and 
• Freedom 

He has written textbooks on psychology and done a number of video documentaries on therapeutic techniques. He was featured in the 2003 documentary, "Flight from Death," that investigates the relationship between human violence and the fear of death. His view of the patient/client relationship has been added to psychology curricula at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and other schools.

His other books include Lying on the Couch, The Schopenhauer Cure, When Nietzsche Wept, and Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy.