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Author: Joseph Dunner Publisher: ISBN: Category : Philosophers Languages : en Pages : 168
Book Description
“Here is an interpretation of Spinoza’s fundamental ideas in the light of the social problems of our own time. Dr. Joseph Dunner, Chairman of the Political Science Department at Grinnell College and life-long student of Spinoza, has tried to translate Spinozistic concepts into modern, everyday language and to demonstrate the significance of The Ethics, the Theologico-Political Treatise and the Political Treatise in the struggle of our Western civilization with the totalitarian claims made by the protagonists of both the Soviet and the Fascist systems of government.We in America think of Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau as the European forefathers of our democratic faith. To these Dunner would add Spinoza as a pioneer of Western thought and democratic principle. The proofs he presents are very persuasive.In a letter to the author, Ben Gurion, first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, has called Spinoza the “greatest and most original thinker” of the Jewish people. In using this statement as a preface to his book, Dunner affirms his agreement with Ben Gurion’s evaluation. Banned by the “Herem”, a residue of medieval heresy-hunting, Spinoza of necessity lived apart from his people. But his austere monotheism, his love of truth, and his struggle for the oppressed – all are in the best Jewish tradition.Modern man, increasingly disillusioned with the “causes” of but yesterday, has been led to such extremes as Existentialism, with its thesis that existence has no meaning beyond itself. In Baruch Spinoza and Western Democracy Joseph Dunner offers a vigorous challenge to the voices of despair.”- Publisher
Author: Joseph Dunner Publisher: ISBN: Category : Philosophers Languages : en Pages : 168
Book Description
“Here is an interpretation of Spinoza’s fundamental ideas in the light of the social problems of our own time. Dr. Joseph Dunner, Chairman of the Political Science Department at Grinnell College and life-long student of Spinoza, has tried to translate Spinozistic concepts into modern, everyday language and to demonstrate the significance of The Ethics, the Theologico-Political Treatise and the Political Treatise in the struggle of our Western civilization with the totalitarian claims made by the protagonists of both the Soviet and the Fascist systems of government.We in America think of Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau as the European forefathers of our democratic faith. To these Dunner would add Spinoza as a pioneer of Western thought and democratic principle. The proofs he presents are very persuasive.In a letter to the author, Ben Gurion, first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, has called Spinoza the “greatest and most original thinker” of the Jewish people. In using this statement as a preface to his book, Dunner affirms his agreement with Ben Gurion’s evaluation. Banned by the “Herem”, a residue of medieval heresy-hunting, Spinoza of necessity lived apart from his people. But his austere monotheism, his love of truth, and his struggle for the oppressed – all are in the best Jewish tradition.Modern man, increasingly disillusioned with the “causes” of but yesterday, has been led to such extremes as Existentialism, with its thesis that existence has no meaning beyond itself. In Baruch Spinoza and Western Democracy Joseph Dunner offers a vigorous challenge to the voices of despair.”- Publisher
Author: Aaron L. Herold Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN: 0812299892 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 253
Book Description
In The Democratic Soul, Aaron L. Herold argues that liberal democracy's current crisis—of extreme polarization, rising populism, and disillusionment with political institutions—must be understood as the culmination of a deeper dissatisfaction with the liberal Enlightenment. Major elements of both the Left and the Right now reject the Enlightenment's emphasis on rights as theoretically unfounded and morally undesirable and have sought to recover a contrasting politics of obligation. But this has re-opened questions about the relationship between politics and religion long thought settled. To address our situation, Herold examines the political thought of Spinoza and Tocqueville, two authors united in support of liberal democracy but with differing assessments of the Enlightenment. Through an original reading of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, Herold uncovers the theological foundation of liberal democracy: a comprehensive moral teaching rehabilitating human self-interest, denigrating "devotion" as a relic of "superstition," and cultivating a pride in living, acting, and thinking for oneself. In his political vision, Spinoza articulates our highest hopes for liberalism, for he is confident such an outlook will produce both intellectual flourishing and a paradoxical recovery of community. But Spinoza's project contains tensions which continue to trouble democracy today. As Herold shows via a new interpretation of Tocqueville's Democracy in America, the dissatisfactions now destabilizing democracy can be traced to the Enlightenment's failure to find a place for religious longings whose existence it largely denied. In particular, Tocqueville described a natural human desire for a kind of happiness found, at least partly, in self-sacrifice. Because modernity weakens religion precisely as it makes democracy stronger than liberalism, it permits this desire to find new and dangerous outlets. Tocqueville thus sought to design a "new political science" which could rectify this problem and which therefore remains indispensable today in recovering the moderation lacking in contemporary politics.
Author: Steven Nadler Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 069113989X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 299
Book Description
When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published. 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. Steven Nadler tells the story of this book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired. A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs--Jacket p. [2].
Author: Jonathan Israel Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1139463616 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 451
Book Description
Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (1670) is one of the most important philosophical works of the early modern period. In it Spinoza discusses at length the historical circumstances of the composition and transmission of the Bible, demonstrating the fallibility of both its authors and its interpreters. He argues that free enquiry is not only consistent with the security and prosperity of a state but actually essential to them, and that such freedom flourishes best in a democratic and republican state in which individuals are left free while religious organizations are subordinated to the secular power. His Treatise has profoundly influenced the subsequent history of political thought, Enlightenment 'clandestine' or radical philosophy, Bible hermeneutics, and textual criticism more generally. It is presented here in a translation of great clarity and accuracy by Michael Silverthorne and Jonathan Israel, with a substantial historical and philosophical introduction by Jonathan Israel.
Author: Wolfgang Bartuschat Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004396942 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 194
Book Description
Naturalism and Democracy, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s Political Treatise (Tractatus politicus). Its contents reflect a recent intensification in the interest in Spinoza’s political philosophy in Germany. The volume addresses Spinoza’s political philosophy according to its place within his philosophical system as a whole, beginning with his theory of the natural genesis of law and state. Following from this are commentaries on the foundations of political philosophy, the relation of natural and state law, the theory of sovereignty, and theory of international relations. These chapters lay the basis for four essays interpreting Spinoza’s attempt to conceive of a systematic optimization of political and legal institutions for all three forms of governance (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy). The volume closes with an analysis of the current relevance of Spinoza’s political thinking and his influence on contemporary debates.
Author: Sandra Leonie Field Publisher: ISBN: 0197528244 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
We live in an age of growing dissatisfaction with the standard operations of representative democracy. The solution, according to a long radical democratic tradition, is the unmediated power of the people. Mass plebiscites and mass protest movements are celebrated as the quintessential expression of popular power, and this power promises to transcend ordinary institutional politics. But the outcomes of mass political phenomena can be just as disappointing as the ordinary politics they sought to overcome, breeding skepticism about democratic politics in all its forms.Potentia argues that the very meaning of popular power needs to be rethought. It offers a detailed study of the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Benedict de Spinoza, focusing on their concept of power as potentia, concrete power, rather than power as potestas, authorized power. Specifically, the book's argument turns on a new interpretation of potentia as a capacity that is dynamically constituted in a web of actual human relations. This means that a group's potentia reflects any hostility or hierarchy present in the relations between its members. There is nothing spontaneously egalitarian or good about human collective existence; a group's power deserves to be called popular only if it avoids oligarchy and instead durably establishes its members' equality. Where radical democrats interpret Hobbes' "sleeping sovereign" or Spinoza's "multitude" as the classic formulations of unmediated popular power, Sandra Leonie Field argues that for both Hobbes and Spinoza, conscious institutional design is required in order for true popular power to be achieved. Between Hobbes' commitment to repressing private power and Spinoza's exploration of civic strengthening, Field draws on early modern understandings of popular power to provide a new lens for thinking about the risks and promise of democracy.
Author: Robert Eccleshall Publisher: Manchester University Press ISBN: 9780719035692 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
This is a guide to the vast amount of literature on the history of political thought which has appeared in English since 1945. The editors provide an annotation of the content of many entries and, where appropriate, indicate their significance, controversial nature and readability.
Author: Alexandre Matheron Publisher: Edinburgh University Press ISBN: 1474440126 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 424
Book Description
"Alexandre Matheron is considered one of the most important interpreters of Spinoza's philosophy in the 20th century. These 20 essays, translated into English for the first time, focus on ontology, knowledge, politics and ethics in Spinoza, his predecessors and his contemporaries."--Publisher description.
Author: Hasana Sharp Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 022679248X Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 255
Book Description
There have been many Spinozas over the centuries: atheist, romantic pantheist, great thinker of the multitude, advocate of the liberated individual, and rigorous rationalist. The common thread connecting all of these clashing perspectives is Spinoza’s naturalism, the idea that humanity is part of nature, not above it. In this sophisticated new interpretation of Spinoza’s iconoclastic philosophy, Hasana Sharp draws on his uncompromising naturalism to rethink human agency, ethics, and political practice. Sharp uses Spinoza to outline a practical wisdom of “renaturalization,” showing how ideas, actions, and institutions are never merely products of human intention or design, but outcomes of the complex relationships among natural forces beyond our control. This lack of a metaphysical or moral division between humanity and the rest of nature, Sharp contends, can provide the basis for an ethical and political practice free from the tendency to view ourselves as either gods or beasts. Sharp’s groundbreaking argument critically engages with important contemporary thinkers—including deep ecologists, feminists, and race and critical theorists—making Spinoza and the Politics of Renaturalization vital for a wide range of scholars.
Author: Joseph Dunner
Author: Joseph Dunner
Author: Joseph Dunner
Author: Aaron L. Herold
Author: Steven Nadler
Author: Jonathan Israel
Author: Wolfgang Bartuschat
Author: Sandra Leonie Field
Author: Robert Eccleshall
Author: Alexandre Matheron
Author: Hasana Sharp