Studies in Spinoza, Critical and Interpretive Essays PDF Download

Author: S. Paul Kashap
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520021426
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Author: S. Paul Kashap
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520319346
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

Author: Michael Della Rocca
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195335821
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 713

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Until recently, Spinoza's standing in Anglophone studies of philosophy has been relatively low and has only seemed to confirm Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi's assessment of him as a dead dog. However, an exuberant outburst of excellent scholarship on Spinoza has of late come to dominate work on early modern philosophy. This resurgence is due in no small part to the recent revival of metaphysics in contemporary philosophy and to the increased appreciation of Spinoza's role as an unorthodox, pivotal figure - indeed, perhaps the pivotal figure - in the development of Enlightenment thinking. Spinoza's penetrating articulation of his extreme rationalism makes him a demanding philosopher who offers deep and prescient challenges to all subsequent, inevitably less radical approaches to philosophy. While the twenty-six essays in this volume - by many of the world's leading Spinoza specialists - grapple directly with Spinoza's most important arguments, these essays also seek to identify and explain Spinoza's debts to previous philosophy, his influence on later philosophers, and his significance for contemporary philosophy and for us.

Author: Gary Slater
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429939779
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 75

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Baruch Spinoza’s Ethics is a dense masterpiece of sustained argumentative reasoning. It earned its place as one of the most important and influential books in Western philosophy by virtue of its uncompromisingly direct arguments about the nature of God, the universe, free will, and human morals. Though it remains one of the densest and most challenging texts in the entire canon of Western philosophy, Ethics is also famous for Spinoza’s unique approach to ordering and constructing its arguments. As its full title – Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order – suggests, Spinoza decided to use the rigorous format of mathematical-style propositions to lay out his arguments, just as the Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid had used geometrical propositions to lay out the basic rules of geometry. In choosing such a systematic method, Spinoza’s masterwork shows the crucial aspects of good reasoning skills being employed at the highest level. The key use of reasoning is the production of an argument that is well-organised, supports its conclusions and proceeds logically towards its end. Just as a mathematician might demonstrate a geometrical proof, Spinoza sought to lay out a comprehensive philosophy for human existence – an attempt that has influenced generations of philosophers since.

Author: Elhanan Yakira
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110706998X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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This book analyzes three often-debated questions of Spinoza's legacy: Was Spinoza a religious thinker? How should we understand Spinoza's mind-body doctrine? What meaning can be given to Spinoza's notions - such as salvation, beatitude, and freedom - which are seemingly incompatible with his determinism, his secularism, and his critique of religion. Through a close reading of often-overlooked sections from Spinoza's Ethics, Elhanan Yakira argues that these seemingly conflicting elements are indeed compatible, despite Spinoza's iconoclastic meanings. Yakira argues that Ethics is an attempt at providing a purely philosophical - as opposed to theological - foundation for the theory of value and normativity.

Author: Ursula Renz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190886412
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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This book reconstructs Spinoza's theory of the human mind against the backdrop of the twofold notion that subjective experience is explainable and that its successful explanation is of ethical relevance, because it makes us wiser, freer, and happier. Doing so, the book defends a realist rationalist interpretation of Spinoza's approach which does not entail commitment to an ontological reduction of subjective experience to mere intelligibility. In contrast to a long-standing tradition of Hegelian reading of Spinoza's Ethics, it thus defends the notion that the experience of finite subjects is fully real.

Author: Willi Goetschel
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 0299190838
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Spinoza’s Modernity is a major, original work of intellectual history that reassesses the philosophical project of Baruch Spinoza, uncovers his influence on later thinkers, and demonstrates how that crucial influence on Moses Mendelssohn, G. E. Lessing, and Heinrich Heine shaped the development of modern critical thought. Excommunicated by his Jewish community, Spinoza was a controversial figure in his lifetime and for centuries afterward. Willi Goetschel shows how Spinoza’s philosophy was a direct challenge to the theological and metaphysical assumptions of modern European thought. He locates the driving force of this challenge in Spinoza’s Jewishness, which is deeply inscribed in his philosophy and defines the radical nature of his modernity.

Author: Olli I. Koistinen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198029373
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Spinoza's philosophy has an undeserved reputation for being obscure and incomprehensible. But now, in this indispensable collection, Spinoza is portrayed in the manner he deserves--as a brilliant metaphysician who paved the way for an exciting new science. The volume focuses on several important areas, including monism, the concept of conatus, the nature of and the relation between mind and body, and Spinoza's relationship to Descartes and Leibniz. The new physics posed difficult questions about the existence and power of God; however, it was commonplace of seventeenth-century metaphysics to claim that all force was God's. In his philosophy, Spinoza solves this problem, identifying God with nature. But, what happens to individuals after that identification? And what is an individual for Spinoza? How does it act? How are its actions explained? This volume clearly addresses these and other fascinating questions. It explores Spinoza's account of the relationship between mind and body, along with his view on the ontology of values. Spinoza saw the threat of deterministic physics to mind-body interaction. How is it possible that minds act on bodies and vice versa? Furthermore, the volume examines the problem of the nature of values, asking is there room for an independent realm of values in the new philosophy? Finally, the collection investigates problems in the interpretation of Spinoza that stem from Spinoza's debatable place in seventeenth-century philosophy; it is often claimed that Spinoza's ideas evolved from Cartesian doctrines while profoundly influencing Leibniz. With a stellar group of contributors--including Michael Della Rocca, John Carriero, Richard Mason, Steven Barbone, Don Garrett, Olli Koistinen, Richard Manning, Peter Dalton, Charles Jarrett, Charles Huenemann, and Mark Kulstad--this volume serves as an excellent resource and represents the best work of a new generation of Spinoza scholars.

Author: Olli Koistinen
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019512815X
Category : First philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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The essays in this volume investigate several themes, notably Spinoza's monism, the nature of the individual, the relation between mind and body, and his place in 17th century philosophy.

Author: Charles Jarrett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441143793
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to fathom, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Benedict de Spinoza is a major philosopher of enduring influence and importance, whose work is encountered by all serious students of Western philosophy; his Ethics is one of the seminal works of moral, religious and political thought. Nevertheless, Spinoza is a considerable challenge for the modern student; his language, rooted in the vocabulary of late Medieval scholasticism is frequently opaque, while the esoteric themes explored in his work often require elucidation. Spinoza: A Guide for the Perplexed provides that elucidation, offering a thorough account and analysis of Spinoza's key works and overall philosophical project. The text equips the reader with the necessary means to draw full and clear understanding from Spinoza's often inaccessible language and complex philosophical system and method. His Ethics and political treatises are covered in detail; Spinoza's 'geometrical' approach to his subject is opened up, and his obscure terminology fully explained. The book concludes with a valuable assessment of Spinoza's enduring influence and his relevance for contemporary philosophical debates and concerns. It is an excellent support resource for anyone trying to get to grips with this challenging and important philosopher.