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. The seven best books on or by spinoza the daily idea. Most booklength interpretations of the ethics include detailed accounts of spinozas view of human nature. Today on the philosophers zone, we meet spinozas god. Einstein tried to express these feelings clearly, both for himself and all of those who wanted a simple answer from him about his faith. Excommunicated by his own jewish colleagues, called an atheist by all christian religious people, spinoza was ahead of his time.
Cambridge core institutional access books catalogue individuals. In fact, i came to discover spinoza through arnes work. This intellectual love follows necessarily from the nature of the mind, in so far as the latter is regarded through the nature of god as an eternal truth e5p33 and e5p29. He had written a celebrated book on spinoza in 1951. However, spinoza s landlord and his wife, both still alive, tell me that he had often told them about this in a. The spinoza problem, by irvin yalom the washington post. He finds some solace in goethebut the spinoza problem niggles at him like a persistent cough.
The book takes each characterization of reason on its own terms, explaining the claims and their historical context. Born into a portuguese jewish merchant family living in amsterdam, spinoza was banished from the sephardic community as a young man, apparently for his heretical views. In this book, spinoza argues that the way to blessedness or salvation for each person involves an. Reading his superbly cryptic masterwork, the ethics, i find myself agreeing with. This page indexes writings of the philosopher baruch spinoza at sacredtexts. Uncorrected paperswallace matson 4 excellent essays on spinoza start there. Baruch spinoza biography childhood, life achievements. Join facebook to connect with michael spinoza and others you may know. An 800page scholarly overview is unlikely to be best for someone looking for a short beginnerfriendly introduction, for example. Here is a spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and heroa surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. This sweet little book really helped me understand spinozas ethics.
Spinoza by michael della rocca goodreads share book. This page contains a list of the best books on or by spinoza. Della rocca, michael 1996a, representation and the mindbody problem in. He rightly sensed that his last work on spinoza was not just another academic treatise but, in a way, his final testament, a personal philosophical legacy, refracted through the. Betraying spinoza, by rebecca goldstein the new york. Michael despinosa spinozas father was the son of these portuguese emigrants. But yaloms talents in this book do not extend to drama. Mr yalom offers his readers a book, dealing with two different lives in an absorbing way, while fanning an interest in spinozas works like ethica. Michael and his wife were marranos or cryptojews, having been amongst those jews who. The renegade jew who gave us modernity rebecca goldstein. It also outrageously criticized the religions, theological and moral beliefs. Baruch spinoza was a dutch philosopher of portuguesejewish descent, from a family that settled in amsterdam to avoid religious persecution in portugal. According to foucault, since descartes knowledge has been something.
Marcus into the life and philosophy of baruch spinoza. Paulmichel foucault was a french philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, and literary. The best book for you will depend on your preferred learning style and the amount of time that you want to spend reading about spinoza. I am reading pierre machereys hegel or spinoza right now, which is excellent. Appearing like a draft for his later ethics, it is a guide for the bewildered. Beginning with an overview of spinozas life, michael della rocca carefully unpacks and explains spinozas philosophy. Baruch spinoza or benedict espinoza or bento spinoza november 24, 1632 february 21, 1677 was a jewish philosopher and one of the first jewish secularists. Youpa 2003 offers an account of selfpreservation in spinoza. Spinozas modal metaphysics stanford encyclopedia of. Practical philosophy by gilles deleuze, looking for spinoza. This book is the first known report of his findings. Bayle writes, too, that on a certain occasion, when spinoza was coming out of the theater, he was attacked by a jew, who gave him a slight cut on his face with a knife, and that he suspected that it was an attempt on his life. The writings of spinoza internet sacred text archive.
He is punished by having to memorise passages from the autobiography of goethe and is stunned to discover that his idol was a great admirer of the. Spinoza, baruch the ethics of suicide digital archive. List of books and articles about spinoza online research. Spinoza was offered florins to keep quiet about his views, but refused. During the first four years, gurdjieff was emphasized due to his popularity during the late 60s and early 70s. 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.
What should i read to learn about spinozas philososphy. Spinoza tried to replace the bible with a scientificallybased ethical system. Nearly 300 years in the past, the brilliant baruch spinoza undergoes his own identity crisis. Glazemaker also translated into dutch the latin books of spinoza. From spinozas contemporaries to our own, readers of the ethics have denounced spinozas views on modality as metaphysically confused at best, ethically nihilistic at worst. Spinozas dream volume 3 special issue willi goetschel. Matthew kisners new book, spinoza on human freedom, helps to correct this pattern of neglect.
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. In the same book, henry develops an interpretation of descartes cogito that cannot be overestimated in its importance for henrys project. The book therefore has important omissions, and there are better books on spinoza himself, including one written by a jewish woman for a jewish audiencen. In the spinoza problem, irvin yalom spins fact and fiction into an unforgettable psychophilosophical drama. Spinozas dream cambridge journal of postcolonial literary. Lachterman 1978 covers spinozas physics and his use of descartes. In 1909, sixteenyearold alfred rosenberg is called into his headmasters office for making antisemitic remarks. In 1977 gregory created a living community with several of his advanced students in mandeville canyon, brentwood, california. He draws not only on the ethics but also on spinozas early treatises and later political writings to sketch a compelling portrait of spinoza as a formidable ethical philosopher whose chief concern, across his corpus, is with human liberation. I am fascinated by spinozas pantheism, but admire even more his contributions to. A renowned western philosopher, spinoza is revered by many from carl jung to albert einstein, who called him a spiritual genius and said, i.
Yalom tells the story of the seventeenthcentury thinker baruch spinoza, whose philosophy led to his own excommunication from the jewish community, alongside that of the rise and fall of the nazi ideologue alfred rosenberg, who two hundred years later during world war ii ordered his task. This exercise in interpretation offers the pleasures inherent in any attempt to decipher a difficult text, a pleasure doubled here by the fact that we have two difficult texts. Maimonides, spinoza and the book of job 1 i invite you to reflect with me on the meaning of the book of job and of maimonides comments on it in the guide of the perplexed. Until about 1660, spinoza lived in or near amsterdam, and afterward he lived in rijnsburg, voorburg, and the hague. Spinoza was born to a marano family in amsterdam holland. His latest, the spinoza problem, attempts nothing less than an accessible. His mother, ana debora, miguels second wife, died when baruch was only six years old. More than simply recounting the story of spinozas life, the book takes the reader right into the heart of jewish amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with spinozas exile from judaism, right into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual and religious world of the young dutch republic. Spinozas psychological theory stanford encyclopedia of. That same year, foucault published his first book, maladie mentale et. Grover would focus his attention and teachings of spinoza, via his book, the ethics. While europe was in an uproar over the right church, spinoza was seeking the right god.
Baruch spinoza 163277 was one of the most important philosophers of all time. If, therefore, there should be anything which would be contrary to this love, that thing would be. However, spinozas landlord and his wife, both still alive, tell me that he had often told them about this in a. My spinoza is the culmination of two decades of research by charles j. As he courts the friendship of hitler, rosenberg becomes a pawn to the forces of history.
He was born to sephardic portuguese jewish parents, living in the netherlands due to the inquisition. Spinoza is a book about baruch spinoza by the english philosopher stuart hampshire, in which the author introduces spinozas philosophy, comparing spinozas views to those of other philosophers such as rene descartes and gottfried wilhelm leibniz, as well as to those of sigmund freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. However, hampshires comparisons between spinoza and freud have been criticized for. A frontispiece portrait and 9 additional illustrations. The integration of social, political, and cultural life in the netherlands in the 1600s is very impressive. His own publisher changed the name of the publisher inventing one and the ethics was published after his death, so that nobody would persecute him while alive. Baruch spinoza has 178 books on goodreads with 118128 ratings. Spinoza has become a classic work about spinoza and has received praise from philosophers. Spinoza refused all rewards and honours, and gave away to his sister his share of his fathers inheritance keeping only a. The excommunicated spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to europes first experiment with racial antisemitism. The book entailed his criticism of the traditional beliefs and philosophical conceptions of god.
I have often massaged her in silence, the nape of her neck, the small of her. Its also incredibly clear, wellwritten, and pretty easy to read, which isnt what youd expect for a book by a french philosopher that involves spinoza andor hegel. The german and english romantics shelley aside got spinoza wrong. So in the summer of 1930, amid his sailing and ruminations in caputh, he composed a credo, what i believe, that he recorded for a humanrights group and later published. Ive read one other book by nadler, but this one stands out. Those who see in philosophy no more than an intellectual exercise will have no difficulty dismissing it. Spinoza on reason starts with striking claims in each of these areas, which michael lebuffe draws from spinozas two great works, the ethics and the theological political treatise.
At the age of 24, he was summoned before a rabbinical court, and solemnly excommunicated. Gilles deleuzes book, expressionism in philosophyspinoza, is a penetrating way to go toward grasping spinoza, especially if you majored in philosophy. I knew the work of descartes and malebranche well, spinoza a little. I thought spinoza could have done more in establishing gods existence, as he seemed so close a couple of this was a mostly digestible overview of spinozas life and work. His independence of thought led to his excommunication from the jewish group in 1656. Until recently, spinozas standing in anglophone studies of philosophy has been relatively low and has only seemed to confirm friedrich heinrich jacobis assessment of him as a dead dog. The genius of spinoza by avishai margalit the new york. The small spinoza museum, which irvin yalom visited during his research for this book, can still be visited in the. Im late in coming to spinoza, and not a philosophy wonk, but deleuze, brings some humanism to spinozas geometric logic. Original maroon cloth with gilt lettering and trim. Baruch spinoza the book of life the school of life. Spinozas ethics, while his most famous work and significant contribution to the field of philosophy, were not as interesting to me as his monist metaphysics. Throughout his lifetime, his ideologies and beliefs made. Spinozas views on necessity and possibility, which he claimed were the principal foundation of his ethics ep75, have been less than well received by his readers, to put it mildly.
For discussion of iiip9, see lebuffe 2004 and 2010a, chapters 57. Of course, rosenberg never manages to solve his spinoza problem. Just to be clear, there is no single best book on spinoza. There is nothing in nature, which is contrary to this intellectual love, or which can take it away. His posthumous publication, the ethics, which is regarded as his magnum opus, earned him recognition as one of western philosophys most important thinkers. This new edition of steven nadlers biography, winner of the koret jewish book award for biography and translated into a dozen languages, is enhanced by exciting new archival discoveries about his family background, his youth, and the various philosophical, political, and religious contexts of his life and works. In his ethics, spinoza wanted to liberate readers from the dangers of ascribing human traits to god. We specialize in spinozana, christian hebraists, scholarly periodicals in the fields of judaica and biblestudies, german judaica, jewish. The book entailed his criticism of the traditional beliefs and philosophical conceptions of god, human beings, nature and universe as a whole. Baruch spinoza was a seventeenthcentury dutch philosopher who tried to reinvent religion moving it away from something based on superstition and ideas of direct divine intervention to being a discipline that was far more impersonal, quasiscientific and. Nadlers work is distinguished by his great familiarity with not only spinoza, but also his contemporaries, descartes and leibniz.