Ars imaginandi: apparenza e rappresentazione in Spinoza (review)

406 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY can properly and consistently be regarded both as pertaining to "the human essence " and as "historically varying" (36), as functions of whatever "society's productive powers" (45) happen to be. But many of these problems would seem to be more Marx's than Wood's; and much of what Wood has to say along these lines is insightful, helpful, and judicious. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book, however, is that dealing with "Marxism and Morality." This is an important topic; and Wood's treatment of it is far superior to most others in the literature. He observes that Marx "exhibits his acceptance of certain values in the course of attacking capitalism" (~25), but argues that it is to certain "nonmoral goods" rather than to "moral views" of some sort that he appeals in doing so (126--1Z7), and that it is crucial to distinguish between his treatment of morality and his acceptance of these basic values. Wood admits that Marx "seldom reflects on what these values are, or on how they might be philosophically justified" (125); but Wood himself makes good at least the former omission, and leaves the door open to efforts along the latter lines, as he contends Marx's general views do. In his approach to morality, on the other hand, Wood sees Marx has having a good deal to say, developing a view of it that may "be fruitfully compared with Nietzsche's" (149), but that has even closer affinities to Hegel's conception of the ethical: "For Marx as for Hegel, the morally rational is determined by the socially actual." 032 ) This has some interesting consequences---e.g., that capitalism can neither be attacked nor defended by reference to notions of "rights" and '~justice," since such moral notions have no significant content apart from that which they may have within the context of some particular social system. Wood also makes it clear, however, that on the other hand Marxism is by no means a general counsel of immorality, or tantamount to moral subjectivism. Attention to the points he makes in these chapters should raise the general level of discussion of Marx on matters of value and morality. Indeed, they may be recommended to philosophers concerned with these matters independently of any interest they may or may not have in Marx, and whether or not they subscribe to his other views. RICHARD 8CHACHT University of lUinois, Urbana-Champaign Filippo Mignini. Ars imaginandi: apparenza e rappresentazione in Spinoza. La cultura delle idee, vol. 6. Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1981. Pp. 438. This work examines Spinoza's conception of imagination as it functions within his system, especially in relation to cupiditas, and as it relates to the science of Spinoza's day, especially to the study of optics. The first five chapters are devoted to the systematic and historical examination of Spinoza's doctrine of images, imagination, and representation. The final three chapters develop Spinoza's view of art and the beautiful and his conception of end or purpose. The significance of the Spinozistic BOOK REVIEWS 407 conception of art has been ignored until our time. Filippo Mignini has included a helpful summary of the scholarship on this topic as an appendix. Mignini sees optics as having great significance for understanding modern natural science and for the philosophical conception of mind and knowledge. "If the philosophers of the Seicento considered the eyes as the sense that more than any other had the capacity to determine the conduct of human life and the knowledge of nature, it is logical that they also considered the science that studied the constitution and operation of this sense and that sought the instruments most apt to strengthen vision as the most noble and necessary science for the development not only of natural philosophy but also of logic and ethics" (31-39). Sense is the basis of the imagination. Thus the imagination forms a link between body and intellect. The intellect requires the sight of the imagination. In determining a particular color as beautiful, lumen is produced in the whole organism, involving the eye, brain, memory, and judgment--"what Spinoza calls, by a single term, imaginazione " (48). A...