Spinoza

Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415923903
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 54

Book Description
Ostracized by the Jewish community in Amsterdam into which he was born, Spinoza developed a political philosophy that set out to justify the secular State, ruled by a liberal constitution, and a metaphysics, according to which everything exists in God as a 'mode' of the divine substance, that sought to reconcile human freedom with a belief in scientific explanation. In this book Roger Scruton presents a clear and systematic analysis of Spinoza's thought, and shows its relevance to today's intellectual preoccupations.

Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191604534
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
Benedict de Spinoza (1632-77) was at once the father of the Enlightenment and the last sad guardian of the medieval world. In his brilliant synthesis of geometrical method, religious sentiment, and secular science, he attempted to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch, and to present a vision of humanity as simultaneously bound by necessity and eternally free. In this book Roger Scruton presents a clear and systematic analysis of Spinoza's thought, and shows its relevance to today's intellectual preoccupations. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Spinoza

Author: Stuart Hampshire
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24

Book Description

Spinoza and Spinozism

Author: Stuart Hampshire
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199279535
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
Among the great thinkers of modern times, only Spinoza (1632-77) created a complete system of philosophy that rivals Plato's. Few other thinkers have felt so strongly 'the desire to have a unitary view of the world and of man's place within it' - a desire that led Spinoza to make crucial contributions to every major philosophical topic: the nature of knowledge and freedom, the existence of God, ethics and politics, mind and matter, pleasure and perception. In this new edition ofhis classic Spinoza (1951), with substantial new material added, the late Sir Stuart Hamsphire offers a masterly introduction to a supreme thinker, and to his enormous influence on philosophy as it has been practised since.

Spinoza

Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 130

Book Description
Philosophy is one of the most intimidating and difficult of disciplines, as any of its students can attest. This book is an important entry in a distinctive new series from Routledge: "The Great Philosophers." Breaking down obstacles to understanding the ideas of history's greatest thinkers, these brief, accessible, and affordable volumes offer essential introductions to the great philosophers of the Western tradition from Plato to Wittgenstein.In just 64 pages, each author, a specialist on his subject, places the philosopher and his ideas into historical perspective. Each volume explains, in simple terms, the basic concepts, enriching the narrative through the effective use of biographical detail. And instead of attempting to explain the philosopher's entire intellectual history, which can be daunting, this series takes one central theme in each philosopher's work, using it to unfold the philosopher's thoughts.

Spinoza

Author: Gilles Deleuze
Publisher: City Lights Books
ISBN: 9780872862180
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description
Spinoza's theoretical philosophy is one of the most radical attempts to construct a pure ontology with a single infinite substance. 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. His ethics is an ethology, rather than a moral science. Attention has been drawn to Spinoza by deep ecologists such as Arne Naess, the Norwegian philosopher; and this reading of Spinoza by Deleuze lends itself to a radical ecological ethic. As Robert Hurley says in his introduction, "Deleuze opens us to the idea that the elements of the different individuals we compose may be nonhuman within us. One wonders, finally, whether Man might be defined as a territory, a set of boundaries, a limit on existence." Gilles Deleuze, known for his inquiries into desire, language, politics, and power, finds a kinship between Spinoza and Nietzsche. He writes, ""Spinoza did not believe in hope or even in courage; he believed only in joy and in vision . . . he more than any other gave me the feeling of a gust of air from behind each time I read him, of a witch's broom that he makes one mount. Gilles Deleuze was a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris at Vincennes. Robert Hurley is the translator of Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality.

Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780191539299
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Descartes: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Tom Sorell
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
ISBN: 0192854097
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 129

Book Description
René Descartes (1596-1650) had a remarkably short working life, and his output was small, yet his contributions to philosophy and science have endured to the present day. He is perhaps best known for his statement 'Cogito, ergo sum'. By a mixture of 'intuition' and 'deduction' Descartes derived from the 'cogito' principle first the existence of a material world. But Descartes did not intend the metaphysics to stand apart from his scientific work, which included important investigations into physics, mathematics, psychology, and optics. In this book Tom Sorrell shows that Descartes was, above all, an advocate and practitioner of a new mathematical approach to physics, and that he developed his metaphysics to support his programme in the sciences. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Leibniz

Author: Maria Rosa Antognazza
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198718640
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
This Very Short Introduction considers who Leibniz was and introduces his overarching intellectual vision. It follows his pursuit of the systematic reform and advancement of all the sciences, to be undertaken as a collaborative enterprise supported by an enlightened ruler, and his ultimate goal of the improvement of the human condition.

Spinoza's Ethics

Author: Yitzhak Y. Melamed
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110822864X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 610

Book Description
Spinoza's Ethics, published in 1677, is considered his greatest work and one of history's most influential philosophical treatises. This volume brings established scholars together with new voices to engage with the complex system of philosophy proposed by Spinoza in his masterpiece. Topics including identity, thought, free will, metaphysics, and reason are all addressed, as individual chapters investigate the key themes of the Ethics and combine to offer readers a fresh and thought-provoking view of the work as a whole. Written in a clear and accessible style, the volume sets out cutting-edge research that reflects, challenges, and promotes the most recent scholarly advances in the field of Spinoza studies, tackling old issues and bringing to light new subjects for debate.