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196. - Wittich, Christoph (1625–1687)

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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
Alexander Douglas
Edited by
Karolina Hübner  and
Justin Steinberg
Karolina Hübner
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Justin Steinberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Christoph Wittich, or Wittichius, was a strong critic of Spinoza, who attacked both his TTP and his Ethics. He dedicated an entire work to refuting the latter: Anti-Spinoza sive examen Ethices Benedicti de Spinoza, et commentaries de Deo et ejus attributis (Wittich 1690).

Wittich was a professor of theology, mathematics, and Hebrew at the universities of Herborn (1651–53), Duisburg (1653–55), Nijmegen (1655–71), and Leiden (1671–87). He was an explicit proponent of Descartes’s philosophy. His appointment at Herborn prompted the Count of Nassau to raise questions about the acceptability of teaching Cartesianism in the universities. This led to a controversy that was only resolved by an edict issued by the States of Holland in 1656.

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Chapter
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The Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon , pp. 575 - 577
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Recommended Reading

Aalderink, M. (2004). Spinoza en Wittichius over essentiae en existentie. In Coppens, G. (ed.), Spinoza en het Nederlands cartesianisme (pp. 79–94). Acco.Google Scholar
Douglas, A. (2015). Spinoza and Dutch Cartesianism: Philosophy and Theology. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubert, C. (1994). Les premières réfutations de Spinoza: Aubert de Versé, Wittich, Lamy. Presses de l’université de Paris Sorbonne.Google Scholar
Kato, Y., and Sakamoto, K. (2020). Between Cartesianism and orthodoxy: God and the problem of indifference in Christoph Wittich’s Anti-Spinoza. Intellectual History Review, 32(2), 239–57,Google Scholar
Verbeek, T. (2005). Wittich’s critique of Spinoza. In Schmaltz, T. M. (ed.), Receptions of Descartes: Cartesianism and Anti-Cartesianism in Early Modern Europe (pp. 103–16). Routledge.Google Scholar

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