Spinoza on Human Freedom

Spinoza on Human Freedom PDF Author: Matthew J. Kisner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139500090
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Spinoza was one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment, but his often obscure metaphysics makes it difficult to understand the ultimate message of his philosophy. Although he regarded freedom as the fundamental goal of his ethics and politics, his theory of freedom has not received sustained, comprehensive treatment. Spinoza holds that we attain freedom by governing ourselves according to practical principles, which express many of our deepest moral commitments. Matthew J. Kisner focuses on this theory and presents an alternative picture of the ethical project driving Spinoza's philosophical system. His study of the neglected practical philosophy provides an accessible and concrete picture of what it means to live as Spinoza's ethics envisioned.

Spinoza on Human Freedom

Spinoza on Human Freedom PDF Author: Matthew J. Kisner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139500090
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Get Book Here

Book Description
Spinoza was one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment, but his often obscure metaphysics makes it difficult to understand the ultimate message of his philosophy. Although he regarded freedom as the fundamental goal of his ethics and politics, his theory of freedom has not received sustained, comprehensive treatment. Spinoza holds that we attain freedom by governing ourselves according to practical principles, which express many of our deepest moral commitments. Matthew J. Kisner focuses on this theory and presents an alternative picture of the ethical project driving Spinoza's philosophical system. His study of the neglected practical philosophy provides an accessible and concrete picture of what it means to live as Spinoza's ethics envisioned.

Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom

Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom PDF Author: Dan Taylor
Publisher: Spinoza Studies
ISBN: 9781474478397
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Reconceives human freedom in Spinoza as intrinsically social and politically committed Combining careful historical and textual analysis with comparisons across past and present political theory, this book re-establishes Spinoza as a collectivist philosopher. Taking as its starting point the formative role of fear in Spinoza's thought, Dan Taylor argues that Spinoza's vision of human freedom and power is realised socially and collectively. He offers a new critical study of the collectivist Spinoza, where we can become freer through desire, friendship, the imagination and transforming the social institutions that structure a given community. A freedom for one and all, attuned to the vicissitudes of human life and the capabilities of each one of us to live up to the demands and constraints of our limited autonomy. This book develops and enriches the continental tradition of Spinozism, drawing on a range of untranslated materials and bringing a fresh perspective to key debates. It repositions Spinoza as the central thinker of desire and freedom and demonstrates how the conflicts within his work inform contemporary theoretical discussions around democracy, the multitude, populism and power. Dan Taylor is a Lecturer in Social and Political Thought at the Open University

Spinoza's Book of Life

Spinoza's Book of Life PDF Author: Steven B. Smith
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300128495
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Offering a new reading of Spinoza's masterpiece, Smith asserts that the 'Ethics' is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed among the great founding documents of the Enlightenment.

Spinoza and the Freedom of Philosophizing

Spinoza and the Freedom of Philosophizing PDF Author: Mogens Lærke
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192895419
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This study considers freedom of speech and the rules of engagement in the public sphere; good government, civic responsibility, and public education; and the foundations of religion and society, as seen through the eyes of seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher, Spinoza.

Spinoza and the Politics of Renaturalization

Spinoza and the Politics of Renaturalization PDF Author: Hasana Sharp
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022679248X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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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.

True Freedom

True Freedom PDF Author: Brent Adkins
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 073913941X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
True Freedom: Spinoza's Practical Philosophy is a straightforward presentation of Spinoza's philosophy focused on the issue of how one might live. The book is unique among recent Spinoza scholarship in the way in which it centers on the ethical component in Spinoza's work. In order to bring Spinoza's ethics to the fore, Brent Adkins begin with what he considers to be Spinoza's fundamental ethical insight: namely, that emotions are controlled by understanding them. Adkins reveals how the process of unfolding Spinoza's philosophy is always anchored in the very practical issue of living well. The significance of True Freedom lies in its understanding of Spinoza's ethics as an 'experimentalism' and its accessibility to a very wide audience. Despite the fact that Spinoza died over 300 years ago, his writings remain remarkably prescient for a wide variety of disciplines, from religion to neuroscience. The source of this prescience, however, comes from Spinoza's recasting ethical theory in terms of how we might live rather than in terms of how we should live. Freedom in every aspect of life from the personal to the political to the religious is dependent on a particular way of engaging with the world. This engagement takes the form of an experiment to see if what we engage with results in an increase or a decrease in our capacity to affect and be affected by the world. True freedom, for Spinoza, lies in increasing our capacities.

Power, State, and Freedom

Power, State, and Freedom PDF Author: Douglas J. Den Uyl
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description


Spinoza: Theological-Political Treatise

Spinoza: Theological-Political Treatise PDF Author: Jonathan Israel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139463616
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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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.

Spinoza's Political Psychology

Spinoza's Political Psychology PDF Author: Justin Steinberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107141303
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
A comprehensive and novel interpretation of Spinoza's political writings that reveals the significance of the affects for political life.

A Book Forged in Hell

A Book Forged in Hell PDF Author: Steven Nadler
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069113989X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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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].