As a young man, her was excommunicated by the elders of the jewish community in amsterdam and subsequently came to be regarded by some as a secular saint and by others as an infamous atheist. This introduction is designed to be read side by side with spinozas work. In this episode of philosophy bites susan james discusses spinoza s views on the passions. Now edmonds and warburton have edited some of those podcasts into this book, philosophy bites back, following in the steps of an earlier volume, simply called philosophy bites. Despite an early rabbinical education, he was expelled from the synagogue at amsterdam for defending heretical opinions in 1656. His ethics is an ethology, rather than a moral science.
Ways into reading spinoza philosophical bibliotherapy. Nigel warburton is a freelance philosopher, podcaster, and writer. A university of chicago philosophy podcast, may 2015. A little history of philosophy by nigel warburton yale. Spinozas ethics is one of the most difficult books in philosophy. Professor susan james department of philosophy, birkbeck. She will argue that for spinoza philosophy is a practical art of living and an.
Samuel shirley, who translated spinozas complete works into english, summed. The best philosophy books of all time updated for 2020. It presents a selection of lively interviews with leading philosophers of our time, who discuss the ideas and works of some of the most important thinkers in history. You can preorder the book based on 25 episodes of the philosophy bites podcast due out august 2010. Young spinoza studied hebrew, the old testament, the talmud, and cabalas traditions of mysticism and miracle. Benedict spinoza, by birth a jew and then a deserter from judaism, and finally an atheist, was a native of amsterdam. His books include a little history of philosophy, philosophy. In accordance with the wishes of his father he studied theology, but soon showed a decided preference for free philosophical speculation. Buy a cheap copy of a spinoza reader book by baruch spinoza. Philosophy bites brings together the twentyfive best interviews from this hugely successful website. Baruch spinoza project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. A life, an introduction to spinozas ethics spinozas ethics.
It closely follows the template of a little history of the world ernst gombrichs 1935 introductory text for children, recently translated by yale and warburton is the ideal shout for a writer to match gombrichs terse charm and easy authority. Examines spinozas ideas of individuality, selfhood, and freedom in spinozas ethics. Offering a new reading of spinozas masterpiece, smith asserts that the ethics is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed. Philosophy bites is a podcast series featuring philosophers being interviewed for 1520. Spinozas theoretical philosophy is one of the most radical attempts to construct a pure ontology with a single infinite substance. Not only the titans of older days but the most famous modern philosophers are here presented and illuminated including bergson, croce. The cartesian idea of nature and mind as a residual concept. Baruch spinoza 16321677 was born in amsterdam during a period of unprecedented scientific, artistic, and intellectual discovery. Whereas studies of spinoza in english have emphasized the logic of the ethics, these essays instead focus on the marginal and developmental moments that have had such a profound effect on french thought. Spinoza s philosophy encompasses nearly every area of philosophical discourse, including metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethics. Basic features of spinozas political philosophy three of the most striking and important claims of spinozas ethics are that 1 all things come to exist and act necessarily from the laws of gods nature e. A downloadable tenminute mp3 on spinozas ethics is now available here as part of my ongoing podcast of my book philosophy. The site thus covers the main philosophical traditions, from the presocratic to the contemporary philosophers, while trying to bring a philosophical reading to the cultural field in general, such as cinema, literature, politics or music.
In this episode of the philosophy bites podcast colin mcginn explains why he thinks that descartes view of the mind has something to be said for it, particularly when combined with leibnizs insight that innate ideas must be initially unconscious. A little history of philosophy, nigel warburton s latest book, is now available in the uk. Maimonides, spinoza and the book of job from jewish themes in spinozas philosophy, ed. Indeed, so much scholarly attention has been lavished on spinozas metaphysics that it is easy to forget what the title of spinozas magnum opus so clearly announces. Spinoza defines this very important concept in proposition 33 of book v. Baruch spinoza 16321677, is a dutch philosopher and has written the following works. Spinoza on miracles philosophy bites daily virtual philosopher. The philosophy of spinoza alfred weber b aruch benedict spinoza,1 spinosa, or despinoza, was born at amsterdam, in 1632, of portuguese jewish parents, who were, it seems, in good circumstances. According to rene descartes at least some of them are innate, acquired indpendently of experience. Transcendental idealism and immanence from jacobi to deleuze 2011 and spinoza s ethics. The minds intellectual love of god is the very love of god by which god loves himself, not insofar as he is infinite, but. He was a systematic atheist whose method was new, although he shared the fundamentals of his doctrine with several other ancient and modern philosophers, both european and oriental.
A biography of a great philosopher benedict spinoza 16321677 is one of the most influential philosophers in history. He chose a single word from that language for his device. Although acknowledged as difficult, the book is widely taught in philosophy, literature, history, and politics. In this episode of philosophy bites susan james discusses spinozas views on the passions. Susan james received her ba, ma and phd degrees in philosophy at the university. Spinoza opera, edited by carl gebhardt, 5 volumes heidelberg. The first book approached philosophy through issues. In this book, spinoza argues that the way to blessedness or salvation for each person involves an expansion of the mind towards an intuitive. The story of philosophy gives not only the ideas and philosophical systems of such worldfamous monarchs of the mind as plato, aristotle, francis bacon, spinoza, kant, voltaire, locke, and others of similar stature, but their fleshandblood biographies. At this period in philosophical history, philosophers were extremely impressed both with geometry and the physics of newton and leibniz. The ethics spinoza s main work, is exposed as is a treatise on geometry. The podcast has been one of the top 20 most downloaded series in the united states and has over 34 million downloads. Uncorrected paperswallace matson 4 excellent essays on spinoza start there. A life by steven nadler meet your next favorite book.
The book also examines the philosophers setting in their own time and place, and their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book, which presents spinozas main ideas in dictionary form, has as its subject the opposition between ethics and morality, and. Spinozas ethics by beth lord 9780253222046 paperback. Book design by patricia fujii library of congress cataloginginpublication data deleuze, gilles.
Nov 10, 2007 the rise of modern philosophy, 1993, debrabanders is the first book length study. It is notoriously obscure, as spinoza invents a variety of new terms and attempts to layout the book like a geometric proof. Spinoza s ethics opens with such a heady and original metaphysics that critics and scholars often get ensnared in the rich tangle of questions raised in parts i and ii indeed, so much scholarly attention has been lavished on spinoza s metaphysics that it is easy to forget what the title of spinoza s magnum opus so clearly announces. Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout europe.
Spinozas ethics opens with such a heady and original metaphysics that critics and scholars often get ensnared in the rich tangle of questions raised in parts i and ii. Spinozas political philosophy stanford encyclopedia of. Baruch spinoza was born to portuguese jews living in exile in holland, but his life among the marranos there was often unsettled. Thus the book was arranged under five headings titled. And it presents the ethics as a companion to spinozas major work of political philosophy, the theologicopolitical treatise, each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Jun 12, 2015 spinoza tried to replace the bible with a scientificallybased ethical system. When it appeared in 1670, baruch spinozas theologicalpolitical treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever publishedgodless, full of abominations, a book forged in hell. Several of the episodes have been transcribed and compiled into three books, all published by oxford university press.
The intellectual love of god, which arises from the third kind of knowledge, is eternal, and also, more substantively, in proposition 36. Ricerche di terminologia, 1997 and james spinoza the stoic. Spinoza beyond philosophy hardcover beth lord oxford. The magic of nigel warburtons book is its disarming accessibility. In the secondary scholarship, nadler has been a oneman spinoza industry recently. For the following that developed around spinoza s ideas, see spinozism. The minds intellectual love of god is the very love of god. Ethics and the contemporary world ethics and the contemporary world. The former was published during his lifetime, but the latter, which contains the entirety of his philosophical system in its most rigorous form, was not published until after his death in 1677. The dialogues gorgias, meno, theatetus, sophist, symposium, phaedrus, timaeus, the republic plato. In this episode of philosophy bites susan james discusses spinozas views on the passions listen to susan james on spinoza on the passions. Spinoza, rejecting any divine transcendence, identifies and merges god and the nature. Baruch spinozas philosophy encompasses nearly every area of philosophical discourse, including metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. Here, in one book for the layman, is a whole university course in philosophy, written in durants unique, lively, and concise style.
Anyone interested in spinoza, the dutch republic, or early modern philosophy would profit by reading it. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. Transcendental idealism and immanence from jacobi to deleuze 2011 and spinozas ethics. The philosophy of spinoza, selected from his chief works. The first chapter discusses the genesis of the concept of mind in cartesian philosophy. Spinozas philosophy is largely contained in two books. This book, which presents spinoza s main ideas in dictionary form, has as its subject the opposition between ethics and morality, and the link between ethical and ontological propositions. This book, which presents spinozas main ideas in dictionary form, has as its subject the opposition between ethics and morality, and the link between ethical and ontological propositions. The new spinoza articulates that presence, making the influence and significance of spinoza perfectly clear for a new generation of philosophy. Beth lord is senior lecturer in philosophy at the university of aberdeen. Philosophy bites then, early in 20, they published this sequel, titled appropriately enough philosophy bites back which consists of the transcripts of an additional 27 podcasts. It presents a selection of lively interviews with leading. Survey the entire history of western philosophy through short intellectual biographies of 40 philosophers from socrates to peter singer, in as broadly approachable a style as eh gombrichs a little history of the world.
Affirming spinozas centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book will be of value to students of political theory, philosophy, and intellectual. Popular spinoza books meet your next favorite book. He studied under socrates, who appears as a character in many of his dialogues. Listen to nigel and david talking about this book 3 mins 51 secs here. The ethics spinozas main work, is exposed as is a treatise on geometry. With a life of spinoza and an introduction by joseph ratner the modern library of the worlds best books, 60. Most readers of spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist, or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the ethics, argues steven b. Spinoza tried to replace the bible with a scientificallybased ethical system. Spinoza s theoretical philosophy is one of the most radical attempts to construct a pure ontology with a single infinite substance.
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