Spinoza’s “Spring Pole” Lathe: Experience to Metaphysics and Back

Spinoza’s Practiced Knowing I mentioned in my recent post on the likely design of Spinoza’s grinding lathe that the dynamics of the Hevelius’ spring pole lathe may be tied to Spinoza’s ideas of Substance and the modes, such that one would be able to see how the epistemo-kinetic experiences Spinoza had during his many hours, days and years of lens grinding on such a lathe may have bore influence upon his metaphysical conceptions. Here [...]

Spinoza’s Grinding Lathe: An Extended Hypothesis

A Proposed Homologue to Spinoza’s Grinding Lathe It has been revealed by some digging into the record by Stan Verdult that indeed the lathe that occupies the Rijnsburg Spinoza museum is not of the sort Spinoza would have used (though it may give us a sense of the size of his lathe). [Written about here: The [...]

Spinoza: Two Grinding Lathes roughly from the Period

  A simple, hand-turned lathe (1614): Taken from the Middleburg 400 year anniversary page Johannes Hevelius foot-powered Lathe (Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio, 1647) taken from the Galleo Telescope page from the I & M of the History of Science Perhaps Spinoza’s grinding lathe had a construction something along this principle.