


































Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 

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35 
 

Original Paper 

From Affect to Spontaneity  

Hakan UŞAKLI
1*

 

1
 Sinop University Education Faculty, Sinop, Turkey  

 

Received: February 1, 2020    Accepted: February 13, 2020   Online Published: February 25, 2020 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v3n1p35             URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v3n1p35 

 

Abstract 

Purpose: This article aims to make a comparison between two profound thinkers, educationalist, 

Jewish one is Spanish origin Northern European Baruch Spinoza (born 1632, died 1677) and the other 

is Mid Europe psychiatrist, Jacob Levy Moreno (born 1889, died 1974). 

Method: Qualitative research methods were used to prepare this manuscript. Two main books and 

thirty-six scientific articles which are relevant to this study were scrutinized carefully to find out why 

their study domains are so crucial in modern daily life. Content and thematic analysis were used to 

draw a general look for two theorists. Maxqda computer program used for analyses. 

Findings: From math studies to explain the universe, optical illustrations to make near objects in 

distance are the main concerns of Spinoza. Starting in medical help especially psychiatry to cue 

psychology mall adaptive behaviors and psychodrama to understand behaviors of routine in everyday 

life are the concerns of Moreno. Both philosophers are studied for understanding the interactions of 

objects to help people. This is also the modern life’s societies not only in research places such as in 

academics but also to rise modern people in schools. 

Implications for Research and Practice: Comparison between Spinoza and Moreno is the main aim in 

overall. It is recommended that all of the subjects, objects related to human interactions should carry 

onboard human interaction. Affection based interactions should be done in all settings. All people 

should be taken part in such intense human interactions to make a more meaningful life not only in 

intuitions such as school but also in daily life such as any meeting such as in public building corridors. 

It is concluded that Spinoza means affection and Moreno means spontaneity. How our affection and 

spontaneity affecting our daily life, expectancy from life and life from us can be a starting point for 

investigations. 

Keywords 

Spinoza, Moreno, affection, spontaneity 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

Encounters and interactions have been shaping our lives. This is not new as old as humans and will be 

brand new as first lights of the sun. Spinoza, the Dutch philosopher, still is young although four centuries 

passed away. There are many writings which were written, have been writing and will be written upon 

him. His life philosophy still affects all over the world of ideas. His ideas are not only structural issues on 

math but also in other disciplines such as art, sociology, psychology and educational science. 

The other character of this manuscript is Moreno. Although he is not popular as Spinoza, he shares the 

same destiny with him. Moreno is more mobile than Spinoza. From Romaine to Vienna, he visited a 

good deal of land in the world such as Africa and the United States. He is the founder of sociometry 

that is the backbone of modern sociology and psychodrama is the art of group therapy. 

Math studies to explain the universe, optical illustrations to make near objects in distance are the main 

concerns of Spinoza. Having a medical degree and so on works, especially psychiatry to help 

psychology mall adaptive behaviors and psychodrama to understand behaviors of routine in daily 

routine life are the concerns of Moreno. Both philosophers made studies for understanding the 

interactions of objects to help people. This is also the modern life‟ educational psychologists not only 

in research places such as in academics but also to rise modern people in schools. This study is 

important for opening intens comparsison between Spinoza and Moreno like prälemenory studies 

(Usakli, 2019; Azevedo, 2017). 

 

2. Literature Review 

Affection is an intense feeling of love or like. Spinoza devoted a good deal of his life to get a clear 

explanation of affect, affection, and emotion. Baruch Spinoza (1677/1876 cited from Mandler, 2003) 

broke the still popular view of the emotions as bothersome intrusions and insisted that they can be seen as 

natural and lawful phenomena. He is one of the major expositors of the notion that the passions are 

essentially conative, that is, derived from motivational forces, just as Aristotle and Hobbes had asserted 

before him. For Spinoza the passions—pleasure, pain, and desire—are all derived from the drive to 

self-preservation, to maintain one‟s own existence (Mandler, 2003, p. 158). 

This manuscript compares those main characters. Naturally great historic characters make this study 

important and valuable. That is why there is no paper issuing those characters. The limitation of the 

study is handing the study only in the frame of educational psychology. So it is better to start the 

definition of the main terms. These are educational psychology, psychodrama, and art. 

The art as an umbrella term for all affectional forms of all encounters is not the main concern of this 

manuscript. That is why from dramatic expression (arts of stages) to musical existential or from paint 

that is imprinting of being in future to dance all poses of the whole of the body are all expressions of 

the being. As Baker (2015) indicated, works of Spinoza addresses arts in all subjects.  

 

 



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Psychodrama or spontaneity theater founded by Moreno (1985) requires participants, stage, techniques, 

and manager. Psychodrama is a therapeutic process of daily conflicts. Perhaps the most handicap of 

this group therapy is that it has been mentioning with only the founder.  

Turnover, absenteeism, smoking, bullying, sarcastic seem to be a normal way of nowadays‟ school life. 

Contemporary researchers and prevention projects draw the apparent attention of policymakers in 

education to the new approaches for school interaction life such as social-emotional learning or 

self-determination. 

The importance of this study is to arouse different aspects of school life in terms of two great 

philosophers Spinoza and Moreno. 

Spinoza is still alive from the 15
th

 century to today. He is in every aspect of life not only scientifically 

but also layman‟s life. In politics Celermajer (2019), post-modern social life of encounters Sagredo 

Aguayo (2019), political theology Robbins (2018), theology in general (Ţăreanu, 2019), philology 

Touber (2018), pragmatist way of philosophizing Fabbriches (2019), modern philosophy (Segovia, 

2019), history of science (Nadler, 2019; Monaco, 2019), political thought (Field, 2019, sided from 

Skeoff, 2018); Mathematics (Usó-Doménech, Nescolarde-Selva, Gash, 2019), and his works in general 

(Di Popa, 2018). All these papers are only in the first two decades of the 20
th

 century. Millions of 

references are apparent testimonial for the magnificence of Spinoza.  

Only three centuries later form Spinoza, Moreno is one of the most powerful medical doctor, therapist, 

psychodramatist, sociometry test specialist and is still alive in the name of him by institutes in all over 

the world. The subject specialist knows him by the conversation with other folk but the founder of 

modern psychology Sigmund Freud “… You analyzed their dreams, I try to give them the courage to 

dream again …” (Marineau, 1989, p. 30); “that is Freudian perspective reminiscence people their past, 

whereas Morenoin view forced to live people‟s memories and what they desire …”. This open entry 

shows that the modern world has no time to devote long hours to consolidate the dichotomous process 

that analyzes; action in front of others is much more than to grasp and therapeutic recovery.  

Wieser and Ameln (2014) investigated his personal life. Scherr (2013) conducted research on social life 

in refugee camps. Sociometric structure in WW I (Scherr, 2014). An interesting study in positive 

psychology Orkibi (2019). Psychotherapy for patients in many aspects such as infertility, hospitalized, 

addictions, interpersonal skills (Terzioğlu & Özkan, 2018; Takis, 2018; Kress & Kern, 2018; Aas et al., 

2018). 

Spinoza is in every aspect of our emotional way of life mainly including in family (Parker et al., 2012). 

Motivating our life (Serrano, Losada, & Martin, 2016) his attempt to develop a vision of ethics in his 

work ethics, demonstrated according to geometric order. 

From antic word to today people are in and within the theater, artistic, esthetic expressions. Moreno 

formulated his method drawing from the theater. He named it as psychodrama to separate from the 

theater.  

 



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The aim of this paper is to get cues between Spinoza and Moreno. Therefore two main books about 

those philosophers were investigated. The author Deuluetz who is a philosopher, artist, and Spinoza 

specialist in the book “Spinoza: Practical Philosophy” Scrinused carefully., Moreno‟ colleagues and the 

book “Psychodrama since Moreno” that was written with Moreno is a counter source that was 

investigated in this article. 

There is no work on a deep investigation between Spinoza and Moreno. This paper lays out how these 

two chief human engineers should be investigated in terms of emotion and spontaneity.  

Garber (2019), compares social and natural science in respect need to well be of societies from the 16
th

 

century‟s profound researchers. One of them is even Spinoza. Educational psychologist‟s work should 

be as Garber (2019) indicated exploring man‟s external and internal worlds, respectively. 

 

3. Method 

The qualitative research method was adopted in the research; comparative scanning method was used. 

While collecting data for research, attention was paid to use various sources and keep them up to date. 

Among these resources; scientific articles, books, web sites of philosophy and psychotherapy were used. 

After the data was collected, the analyzes and comparisons were made by using the document analysis 

method. The document review includes the analysis of all written materials containing information about 

the fact and case investigation. There is no need to make observations and interviews while collecting 

data in document analysis. The data were analyzed by following the steps of: (1) accessing documents, (2) 

checking authenticity, (3) understanding documents, (4) analyzing data, and (5) using data. To ensure 

validity and reliability, the data obtained from the documents was kept up to date. The data was 

interpreted, tabulated and objectively approached, and personal opinions and interpretations were not 

reflected in the study. 

In this study, content and thematic analysis were used by cutting across data and searching for patterns 

and themes. Content and thematic analysis are totally two different qualitative data gathering methods. 

Their main difference lies in the possibility of quantification of data in the content analysis by 

measuring the frequency of different categories and themes, which cautiously may stand as a proxy for 

significance Vaismoradi, Mojtaba and Snelgrove, Sherrill (2019). 

 

4. Results 

This study compared Spinoza and Moreno in the context of affection and spontaneity. In content analysis, 

two different sources were used. One is “Spinoza: Practical Philosophy (Delueze, 1988) and the other 

one is Psychodrama since Moreno Innovations in theory and practice (Holmes, Karp, & Watson, 2005). 

Table 1 at appendix illustrates most common words frequential distribution to aim for content analysis. 

The result indicates that affect, emotion, perspective, and spontaneity are the main nodes or codes in 

other words concepts. According to Table 1, 318 repeated words are affected. Here examples from three 

pages at Deleuze, 1988: 



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In page 27 there are 12 word of affects repeated:  

…affections. An individual is first of all a singular essence, which is to say, a degree of power. A 

characteristic relation corresponds to this essence, and a certain capacity for being affected corresponds 

to this degree of power. Furthermore, this relation subsumes parts; this capacity for being affected is 

necessarily filled by affections. Thus, animals are defined less by the abstract notions of genus and 

species than by a capacity for being affected, by the affections of which they are “capable”, by the 

excitations to which they react within the limits of their capability. Consideration of genera and species 

still implies a “morality”, whereas the Ethics is an ethnology which, with regard to men and animals, in 

each case only considers their capacity for being affected. Now, from the viewpoint of an ethnology of 

man, one needs first to distinguish between two sorts of affections: actions, which are explained by the 

nature of the affected individual, and which spring from the individual‟s essence; and passions, which 

are explained by something else, and which originate outside the individual. Hence the capacity for 

being affected is manifested as empower of acting insofar as i; is assumed to be filled by active 

affections, but as a power of being acted upon insofar as it is filled by passions. For a given individual, 

i.e., for a given degree of power assumed to be constant within certain limits, the capacity for being 

affected itself remains constant within those limits, but the power of acting and the power of being 

acted upon vary greatly, in inverse ratio to one another. … 

Page 49 was consisted of the most frequent affects:  

“… these states, these affections, images or ideas are not separable from the duration that attaches them 

to the preceding state and makes them tend towards the next state. These continual durations or 

variations of perfection are called “affects”, or feelings (affectus). It has been remarked that as a 

general rule the affection (affectio) is said directly of the body, while the affect (affectus) refers to the 

mind. But the real difference does not reside there. It is between the body‟s affection and idea, which 

involves the nature of the external body, and the affect, which involves an increase or decrease of the 

power of acting, for the body and the mind alike. The affectio refers to a state of the affected body and 

implies the presence of the affecting body, whereas the affectus refers to the passage from one state to 

another, taking into account the correlative variation of the affecting bodies. Hence there is a difference 

in nature between the image affections or ideas and the feeling affects, although the feeling affects may 

be presented as a particular type of ideas or affections: “By affect I understand affections of the body 

by which the body‟s power of acting is increased or diminished, aided or restrained …” (III, def. 3); 

“An affect that is called a passion of the mind is a confused idea, by which the mind affirms of its body, 

or ofSome part of it, a greater or lesser force of existing than before …” (III, gen. def. of the affects). It 

is certain that the affect implies an image or idea, and follows from the latter as from its cause (II, ax. 

3). But it is not confined to the image or idea; it is of another nature, being purely transitive, and not 

indicative or representative, since it is experienced in a lived duration that involves the difference 

between two states. This is why Spinoza shows that the affect is not a comparison of ideas, and thereby 

rejects any intellectualist interpretation: “When I say a greater or lesser force of existing than before, I 



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do not understand that the mind compares its body‟s present constitution with a past constitution, but 

that the idea which constitutes the form of the affect affirms of the body something which really 

involves more or less of reality than before” (III, gen. def.). An existing mode is defined by a certain 

capacity for being affect ...” 

In page 99 only one paragraph contains 18 affect: 

“Just as the capacity for being affected (potestas) corresponds to the essence of God as power (potentia), 

an ability (aptus) to be affected corresponds to the essence of the existing mode as a degree of power 

(conatus). This is why the conatus, in a second determination, is a tendency to maintain and maximize 

the abilityto be affected (IV, 38). Concerning this notion of ability, cf.Ethics, II, 1 3, schol.; III, post. 1 

and 2; V, 39. The difference consistsin this: in the case of substance, the capacity for being affectedis 

necessarily filled by active affections, since substance produces them (the modes themselves). In the 

case of the existing mode, its ability to be affected is also realized at every moment, but first by 

affections (affectio) and affects (affectus) that donot have the mode as their adequate cause, that are 

produced init by other existing modes; these affections and affects are therefore imaginations and 

passions. The feelings-affects (affectus) are exactly the figures taken 1;>y the conatus when it is 

determined to do this or that, by an affection (affectio) that occurs to it. These affections that determine 

the conatus are a cause of consciousness: the conatus having become conscious of itself under this or 

that affect is called desire, desire always being a desire for something(III, def. of desire)”. 

It is apparently seen that “affect” is the main concept that stants for Spinoza. 

Affect, emotion, perspective and spontan also scimmed for Moreno in the book Holmes, Karp, Watson, 

2005. 237 times word of spontan repeted. Here some examples from pages:  

The word “spontan” 12 times repeted at the page 35: 

“… One participant found it helpful to connect with her shadow self. As she searched for what was 

blocking her spontaneous expression, removing each doll brought her nearer to her interior self. „If I 

am spontaneous I show my vulnerability, I show fear; if I show fear I show need, and if I show need I 

may become spontaneous, and if I am spontaneous I will be annihilated‟. Annihilation was a common 

block to spontaneity in this group. It led to a discussion of the need to draw on the light and dark sides 

of oneself for the fulfillment of spontaneity. But the fearful business of risking the dark and potentially 

destructive parts of ourselves seems to create intense fear of disappointment and therefore the self 

closes up or disappears. In the moment of fear, one is reminded of childhood attempts at spontaneity 

which were punished or not rewarded. The parental statement, „I want, doesn‟t get‟ can be an example 

of this dampening effect. We need to use both joyful and dark energies in spontaneous production. 

Another participant who connected with her shadow self later reflected: In psychotherapy, while it is 

important to touch and understand the personal/historical origins of one‟s own angst, it is also essential 

to accept and own one‟s „shadow‟ for this provides life-giving energy towards creativity and wholeness 

and liberates us from the continuing need to blame others or „life‟ for our insufficiencies. To live 

creatively, then, is to live with paradox—to embrace the two sides of oneself mirrored in Joy and 



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Despair, Life and Death (Elizabeth Ash, 1989, unpublished manuscript). A later use of this technique is 

to start with the largest doll already empty and go down in size with each revelation. For example, I 

will be spontaneous because I won‟t be annihilated. I won‟t be annihilated because I won‟t show fear; 

and so on, up the dolls as each is put together again. The most common answers as to why „I won‟t be 

spontaneous‟ were: I won‟t belong. I might be annihilated. I might not be liked. I might be a nuisance. I 

might not be loved. I don‟t trust myself. Many people felt that the original message given by a parent 

figure was: „Be careful not to react naturally because that will cause trouble‟. The message later in life 

after entering therapy, becomes the opposite of that: Trouble exists because natural responses have 

been aborted. Be yourself‟. It is interesting to note that the single most sought-after state for people 

asking for psychological help is „to just be me‟. To „just be me‟ takes courage and confidence. Courage 

and confidence can be trained in people, with the support of a group. This curious conflict between 

being yourself in one situation and not being yourself in another situation restricts many people 

throughout their lives. Training for spontaneity, a seeming contradiction in terms, helps people reverse 

the negative dictum, „Do not be you‟, to the positive one, „Be you‟. They learn both adequacy and 

appropriateness of a given response. Where spontaneity has been severely prohibited, the person may 

become anxious or hyperactive. He or she learns to do anything, just to be doing something. The 

opposite may also occur. The individual may close down entirely and be fearful of doing anything at 

all …” 

13 times at the page 38: 

“been there before and would be again. These were „token‟ paintings, that is to say each painting was a 

copy of what had been done before. For example, a rose-covered cottage, a token seascape, a token 

still-life—none very interesting or having a feeling of inspiration. Ken then gave a talk about the 

importance of using stories as a basis for their paintings. A farmer‟s wife, who lived near us, asked if 

she could tell a story. Excitedly, she told us about the drunken sale of a pig. One night her husband had 

arranged to sell a pig. The buyer arrived and the two farmers began to chat and drink. After much 

drinking, at one o‟ clock in the morning, by moonlight, the two farmers tried to push the pig into the 

back of the buyer‟s car so that he could take the pig home. Both farmers, and their wives, laughed and 

shoved the pig into the back of the car. Margaret, the teller of the story, said she‟d never forget the 

sight of squashing a pig into the back seat of a car by moonlight. What an idea for a painting! This idea 

became the basis for her new work and the spontaneity level entered her creation at last. Spontaneity 

prepares the subject for free action. If the warm-up to an act is achieved and the person fails to 

complete the act, it is like being in labour forever without a birth. Anxiety occurs when the full state of 

readiness is aborted. When anxiety is high, spontaneity is low and when spontaneity is high, anxiety is 

low. It is suggested by Paul Holmes that the presence of anxiety is the cause of a loss of spontaneity: „it 

is increasing anxiety, associated with physiological changes needed for an adequate physical response 

to danger which reduces spontaneity and the ability to find creative solutions‟ (Holmes, 1992, p. 143). 

„Spontaneity is the state of production and is the engine that drives the creative act‟ (Moreno, 1953, p. 



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334)”. 

The creative act—four characteristics 

In Morenian theory there are four characteristics (referred to as characters) in the creative act (Moreno, 

1977, p. 35). The first character is its spontaneity. The spontaneity prepares the subject for free action. 

The second character is a feeling of surprise, the unexpected aspect of the act. The third is breaking the 

existing reality in some way. And the fourth character of the creative act is acting sui generis or in a 

one-of-a-kind state. In order that the moment is sui generis, a change must take place in the situation, 

the change must give a feeling of novelty, and the perceived novelty involves activity from the subject, 

an act of warming-up to a spontaneous state (Moreno, 1977, p. 104). Margaret‟s story of the pig 

illustrates the four characterists of a creative act. The novelty of pushing a pig into the back seat of a 

car in the moonlight creates an excitement to impart the tale. Producing the story is allowing it to call 

out and be released from the person who experienced it. This raw immediacy forms a process that 

demands telling. When that must-tell phenomenon is allowed to unfold, spontaneous expression occurs. 

The feeling of surprise is evidenced throughout the story. No money for the sale was ever mentioned, 

for example. The manner of selling the pig, the drinking and the socialising were the key surprise 

elements. The actual sale of the pig happened at the end of the story. It broke existing reality because 

one‟s eyes see an illusion. It is hard to contemplate pig sales at this hour or in that light. It certainly was 

a one-of-a-kind state (fourth characteristic) as the business interreaction came as an aftermath of an 

evening‟s enjoyment. The sale of the pig was a small detail in the larger backdrop of acres of farmland, 

farmhouse, cars, tractors, all drenched in moonlight. Brueghel‟s paintings of Flemish scenery have the 

same quality of spontaneity and surprise that break existing reality and create novelty. In The Fall of 

Icarus you see the foreground taken up with a farmer ploughing his field and in the very background of 

the painting is the small figure of Icarus falling from the sky. I like this painting enormously. It speaks 

of the most important subjects in life appearing as detail. In the novel work of Brueghel, his 

spontaneity allows him to take a huge subject—Icarus falling from the sky—and set it in perspective 

among the significant everyday acts of the Flemish peasants. Each act of theirs is”. 

In page 42 there are also 13 times repeted word of spontan: 

“The above are my observations. It is easy to recognise when the climax of expression is over. In act 

hunger, usually the level of spontaneity enables a creative result.  

The level of spontaneity enables a creative result  

Recently I worked with a protagonist who had been severely abused by an alcoholic father and 

emotionally abandoned by a domineering mother. In setting up the scene of her present bedroom she 

reversed roles with the most significant object in the room, her teddy bear. „I‟ve been with you 

thirty-two years. I‟ve never betrayed you like they have. I will be with you during this next difficult 

period, as I always have been‟. The protagonist looked rather shocked to think that this bit of worn fur 

was the most loyal and fiercely supportive member of her family. In later scenes, when she needed to 

trace the origins of her own drinking pattern, a fearful confrontation with her father was needed. She 



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felt she hadn‟t the strength to stand up to him. „Who could?‟ I asked her. She then took the role of her 

bear, bared her teeth at father and went to a scene where he beat her. In the role of the bear, she finally 

ventilated some of the rage pent up inside her and spoke of the gross indignity of her treatment by him. 

It was the first time a full-blown confrontation could occur and her hunger to act was completed. Her 

spontaneity in life had been blocked by her real fear and anxiety of further abuse. This new response to 

an old situation with her father was just what was needed to break through her role boundaries. The 

phenomenon of spontaneity has effects in the body. The life energy that is created during the force of 

the spontaneous act can alter the mind/body state. Spontaneity is the factor animating mental 

phenomena to appear fresh, new and flexible. This intense feeling of novelty seems to be the result of 

cognitive restructuring. The actor/thinker replaces known solutions with newly recognised behavioural 

possibilities. Spontaneity lies at the fountain of this transition. Leonard Laskow, a pioneering physician 

working on mind/body medicine, states that the physical body is a field of energy that has taken a 

particular form and by restructuring energy patterns through focused intention and imagery we can 

ameliorate or even cure (Laskow, 1992, p. 189).  

The relationship of spontaneity: creativity and how it fits into psychodrama directing  

Spontaneity is the engine that drives the creative act. The process of psychodrama involves the 

movement from cultural conserves with stereo-typically prescribed roles to an increased role repertoire 

borne out of spontaneity. Protagonists develop greater role-taking skills and are released from their old 

frozen attitudes and roles, becoming more authentic and open. It seems reasonable to assume that as 

protagonists experiment with new roles in the psychodramatic situation, they begin to change feeling 

and thought in their new roles. Subjects report beginning to see their world differently and look at their 

own lives from a new perspective. Psychodrama presents an array of novel situations which require the 

total attention of the protagonist and group members for the production of adequate responses. The 

opportunity for the emergence of spontaneity is maximised in creating new behaviour. The lead person 

in creating new behaviour is the director. The director should be a model of spontaneity for group 

members to emulate. Just as the protagonist sets the role of the „other‟ in the session, the director sets 

the role of „the spontaneous group member‟. Though issues of transference are minimised rather than 

maximised in psychodrama, the role of good parent or bad parent exists for many directors with a 

particular group member. It may be a conscious effort for a director to play a good parent for a 

damaged protagonist. This necessitates responsibility and…” 

Moreno means that affect, emotion, perspective and spontan.  

This study compeard two ideolog Spinoza and Moreno the belowe figure ullustrates two thmes 

connections between nodes. When Spinoza is affect Moreno is spontan.  

 



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Figure 1. Spinoza’s Nodes 

 

Figure 1 illustrates most repeated words by Spinoza and taken into accound as nodes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Figure 2. Moreno’ Nodes 

 

Figure 2 illustrates most repeated words by Moreno and taken into accound as nodes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Figure 3. Spinoza Versus Moreno 

 

In Figure 3 ilustretes the main concepts of Spinoza and Moreno cross with each other. 

 

5. Discussion, Conclusion, Recommendations  

5.1 Spinoza 

In forty five years of his life, Baruch Spinoza gives works that made him one of the most influential 

philosophers in times. Spanish or Portuguese extraction Jewish family Spinoza lived most of his life in 

the two Nederland cities Amsterdam and Hague. Spinoza published First and Second Parts of the 

Principles of the Philosophy of Rene Descartes, Demonstrated in the Manner of the Geometers, 

Metaphysical Thoughts and the Theological-Political Treatise. In addition to these, he wrote the 

manuscript although he didn‟t manage for publication (Deleuze, 1988).  

Later in the seventeenth century, Baruch Spinoza (1677/1876) broke with the still popular view of the 

emotions as bothersome intrusions and insisted that they can be seen as natural and lawful phenomena. 

He is one of the major expositors of the notion that the passions are essentially conative, that is, derived 

from motivational forces, just as Aristotle and Hobbes had asserted before him. For Spinoza the 

passions—pleasure, pain, and desire—are all derived from the drive to self-preservation, to maintain 

one‟s own existence (Mandler, 2003, p. 158). 

 

 



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Maidansky (2018)‟s article retraces the fate of Spinoza‟s ideas in cultural-historical psychology from 

the late works of Lev Vygotsky to Evald Ilyenkov. Following Spinoza, Vygotsky considers affect to be 

the alpha and omega of all psychic development. The central problem both of Ethics and Vygotsky‟s 

last manuscripts is the way to freedom through the rational mastering of affects. Vygotsky died before 

he could carry out his project of a “new psychology” based on Spinoza‟s idea of man. His students 

were not able to continue his work. 

Fabbriches (2019) combined Spinoza, Emerson, and Peirce in the perspective of, Pragmatism to rich, 

how power would-be preparedness to act. 

Celermajer (2019) points to the works of Spinoza in the context of a political manner. According to 

Celermajer (2019), Drawing on Spinoza, the article considers the affective impediments to the uptake 

of understandings and their correlate practices that require moving beyond agent-centric explanations 

for grave wrongs. So long as anger, indignation, and blame colonize the individual and broader 

institutional spheres, they will almost inevitably bind us to a particular type of inadequate causal 

analysis and make other types of preventative responses appear as derelictions of our duty to hold 

wrongdoers responsible for their acts. 

Nicolás and Johnson (2019) underline the importance of emotional education. Educational psychology‟ 

great issue is respecting, responding emotional uniqueness of objects in an educational environment. 

As Strom et al. (2018) stated our work should prepare educational society from students to parents even 

education itself to think different. 

From the facts and fictions, Nadler (2019) states that there is a light difference between that is the 

lowest grade of cognition, grounded in the senses and imagination (p. 554).  

According to Monaca (2018), not only Spinoza by his life but also his works as in the case of Ethic‟ 

Spanish poet misconceived.  

Robbins (2018) investigated theological look to heresy between Spinoza and famous rock Singer 

Prince (born 1958, died 2016). He concluded out that Heresy today is the supreme example of futility. 

And it is precisely such waste, expenditure, and nonproductively that we most need. Failure is our only 

option. Even more, it is our only hope. 

5.2 Moreno 

Jacob Levy Moreno was born in Bucharest in 1889 and died in New York in 1974. Moreno, the pioneer 

of interpersonal relations in the fields of sociometry, group therapy, psychodrama, and sociodrama, 

entered the domain of family therapy when he published “Inter-personal Therapy and the 

Psychopathology of Inter-personal Relations” (Farmer, 1995).  

The concept of spontaneity was first introduced to psychotherapy by Moreno (1953) who considered it 

a major contributor to well-being. His theory and the kind of group therapy (psychodrama) he created 

are based on the notion that a spontaneous person is a mentally healthy one. Moreno‟s (1953, 1964) 

theory held that the process leading to well-being begins with a spontaneity that triggers creativity that 

ends in action. Interestingly, both Moreno (1953), an opponent of psychoanalysis, and Fiumara (2009), 



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a psychoanalyst, are in agreement on one point, that is, the importance of spontaneity and its relation to 

creativity (Stadler, Wieser, & Kirk, 2016). Spinoza‟s word of “affect” and “effecting” human 

geography (Curti et al., 2011). 

Orkibi (2019) investigated Moreno and his works as a positive psychodrama in the frame of practice 

and research.  

Garber (2019) explained Moreno by compeering Galileo and Newton in a glance to in the social and 

humanitarian sciences is the sociometry.  

Affections of body geography as Curti et al. (2011) indicated and it‟s the individual universe as 

Spinoza wrote before Moreno‟s psychodrama and sociometry is encounters of universes. 

Spinoza also drew attention to how teacher education should be (Shann, 2014). Education is taking part 

in perspectives. 

All the crucial studies of Spinoza to rich morality in the perceiving immortality. As Dahlbeck (2015) 

claims (1) the imitation of effects is key to understanding Spinoza in an educational setting and; (2) that 

teaching, in a Spinozistic context, involves the act of offering the right amount of resistance. 

The interrelation of ethnicity and geographic place affects people (Kraftl, 2015). Like perspective, 

spontaneity another is a key concept in both parties. Spinoza firstly indicated spontaneity as a 

philosopher whereas Moreno emphasized it more as a medical and social scientist (Christoforou & 

Kipper, 2006). All those findings are chorent with previous studies (Usakli, 2019; Azevedo, 2017). 

Baruch Spinoza and Jacob Levy Moreno were compared in this study. Affection and spontaneity are 

the main themes in both thinkers. Affection is the motive that urges us to do what any organism acts. 

Affection is the love, respect, see, being and making goodness for any matter. Spontaneity is life as 

itself.  

 

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Appendix 

 

Table 1. The Words Affect, Emotion, Perspective, Spontan Distribution in Spinoza and Moreno 

Page 

Number 

Spinoza Moren

o 

Page 

Number 

Spinoza Moren

o 

Page 

Number 

Spinoza Moren

o 

Page 

Number 

Spinoza Moreno 

1  2s 66 a  131 a2i, pi  196  3e, p 

2  2s 67  s 132 a3ii  197  p 

3  a 68  2s 133 aiii, p 2p 198  s 

4   69 a2*  134  rp 199   

5  e, s 70 a*  135  2rp 200  ar, s 

6   71 4a p 136   201  2p 

7   72   137  s 202   

8   73 4a e 138   203   

9  2s 74 3a 7s 139  e, s 204  4a, e 

10 a a, 4s 75 2a s 140  s 205  a, s 

11  s 76 3a e 141  s 206  e 

12   77  e, 2s 142  2s 207  a, p, s 

13 p 8s 78   143  a, 2s 208   

14  7s 79  e 144  2s 209  e 

15  5s 80  e, p 145  a, 2e, 

7s 

210  e 

16   81 a  146  s 211  a, s 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-017-9514-8
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198805007.003.0001
https://doi.org/10.26697/ijes.2019.3.2
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-019-09627-2
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11620-014-0244-y


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17  2s 82 7a s 147  4s 212  a, p 

18  a 83 a, p  148   213  a 

19 a e, s 84  s 149  s 214   

20   85   150   215  ar 

21 3a  86   151  s 216   

22   87 4a  152  3s 217   

23  s 88  3p 153   218   

24   89  e 154   219   

25   90 a 3e 155  a, 2p 220  5esi 

26   91 a 2e, p 156  s    

27 13a a, 7s 92  e, 2s 157  p, s TOTAL Spinoza Moreno 

28 3ad  93   158  p affect 318 34 

29  e, 4s 94 a e 159   emotion 0 77 

30  2s 95   160  p perspect

ive 

5 45 

31  e 96 a6 e 161   spontan 1 237 

32  4s 97 4a 2e, 2p 162      

33  9e, 2s 98 3a a,e 163  p    

34 ad, s 5s 99 18a  164  e    

35  12s 100 4a  165      

36 a 11s 101 12a 2e 166      

37 a 9s 102 9a a, e 167      

38 4a p, 13s 103 2a  168  3p    

39 6ad p, 7s 104 6a  169      

40  2e, 3s 105   170  p    

41 9a 3e, 7s 106  s 171  2e, 2p    

42 8a e, p, 

13s 

107   172  p, s    

43 4ad 2e, 5s 108 6a  173  p    

44   109  a, e, s 174  p, 2s    

45 6a p 110  e, p, 3s 175  s    

46 3a  111   176  s    

47  3e, 3s 112   177  s    

48 14a* 2e 113   178  s    

49 26a  114  s 179  2s    

50 15a 4s 115 a 5a, 2e, 180      



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s 

51 5a 3s 116  2a 181  s    

52 a a 117  2e 182  s    

53  2a, e 118 2a  183      

54  e, s 119 2a  184  e, s    

55 2a  120   185  e    

56 7a  121 p  186      

57  p 122 ad e 187  a, 2s    

58 2a  123 6a  188     

59 4a 2s 124 18a e 189  s a affect 

60 9a p, s 125 10a  190  a,e, s e emotion 

61 3a p 126 2a s 191  2e, s p perspective 

62   127 a e, p, s 192   s spontan 

63 a p, s 128 3a a, e 193  e, s d footnote 

64 a s 129 2a a 194  p, 2s * definition 

65  3s 130 4a e 195   r reference 

 

 


