Donne and Spinoza’s Postmodern Thought: Body and Soul Monism

The aim of this paper is to examine the similarities between John Donne (1573∼1631), the 17th century British representative metaphysical poet, and Baruch Spinoza (1632∼1677), the 17th century Dutch philosopher, from the view point of a mind-body monism. This paper tries to trace the fact that these two people showed postmodern thought as they, unlike René Descartes (1596∼1650), escaped the Enlightenment worldview that dominated the western spiritual world centered on soul and reason. In Chapter 13 of her book Returning to John Donne (2015), “Donne, Milton, Spinoza, and Freedom of Faith: A Cross-Confessional Perspective,” Achsah Guibbory compares Donne and Milton (1608∼1674), and she compares John Locke (1632∼1704) and Spinoza from the religious point of view of tolerance. She says that while Donne and Spinoza have similar religious affiliations, Milton and Locke have similar ideas. Based on these arguments of Guibbory, this paper intends to examine the similarities between Donne and Spinoza. Guibbory approaches from a religious point of view, but unlike Guibbory, this paper attempts to approach the theme of unity of body and soul beyond the dualism of the two from an ontological point of view.