Ethics

Another book that I am sure I was not able to fully understand; but - "Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow." Taken from that perspective I am glad to have encountered the writings of this great philosopher. A definite '2nd' read is in order; hoping the the cumulative effect for me will be that I am able to understand more of this important work.

A classic delivered on time.

Spinoza's "Ethics" is first and foremost a practical philosophy for everyday living. And for the deep sense of acceptance and joy I experienced during and after reading it - I can say it was definitely worth the read. It's also, however, a work of sustained philosophical brilliance. A philosophy of immanence, in which economy of principles prevails as an attempt is made to explain existence through one single thing - Substance/God/Nature, three words for this one thing. There is no Cartesian mind/body dualism here, but instead a philosophy that seeks to show how to mind and body are united. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say the book is great and challenging thoughtscape. For all serious scholars of philosophy or people looking to say yes to existence - this book was meant for you.

Readers of Spinoza’s Ethics might be surprised by the heavy influence of scholastic terminology and thinking relied upon in the text. Intellect, will, substance and other bulwarks of medieval thought feature prominently in Spinoza’s system. A further surprise is that Spinoza proceeds mostly according to a Euclidean model. Influenced by Descartes, Spinoza thinks that the universe can be understood by axioms and deductions just as in a geometric proof. This is, of course, all intellectual history. Spinoza reasoned that the Jewish God could not exist because, being infinite, it makes no sense to conceive of him creating a finite universe. Thus, the universe itself must be necessary and infinite, with no real distinction between it and the deity. But, if there’s anything astrophysics is certain of it is that our universe is far from necessary. We can easily imagine other universes, governed by different rules that could have been just as real as our own. Since Spinoza builds so much of his system on a necessary universe it seems like this is an Achilles heel in his thought. But he still makes for engaging reading. His book is really a shorter summa a la the writings of the great works of the Middle Ages. From the nature of God, to the nature of the universe, to the secret to the virtuous and happiest life, Spinoza’s system is all encompassing. Highly recommended to all readers interested in the transition from medieval to modern philosophy.

If you’re just getting started reading philosophy like me. This will be pretty difficult. I purchased a primer just after this, I would recommend you buy philosophy 101 and read that to get the basics before venturing into this. if you’re well-versed in philosophy, then of course, you could go straight to it.

Spinoza was ahead of his time, the man had great insight.

If you want to read a book that touches on the essence of every aspect of existence, start here. The format of this book is intimidating, but it is accessible to anyone. It is meant to be read intently. Spinoza breaks down common experience to demonstrate how pure reason leads to an understand of Nature, revealing the wonder of the mundane.

This is not an easy read, even by the standards of serious philosophical texts. Spinoza structures his work like Euclid's Elements—logical arguments built on definitions, axioms and propositions. Readers must constantly search back in the text to find previously established arguments which are used to prove new claims. His language is not particularly lucid either—take the demonstration for IIIP56 (page 100): "But we are necessarily acted on (by P1) insofar as we have inadequate ideas, and only insofar as we have them (by P3) are we acted on, that is (see IIP40S) necessarily we are acted on only insofar as we imagine, or (see IIP17 and P17S) insofar as we are affected with an affect which involves both the nature of our body and the nature of an external body." Nonetheless, Spinoza's theories were revolutionary, and it is an impressive feat to derive a comprehensive theory of nature, the mind and ethics in this fashion.

O livro estava sujo, com impressões digitais na capa, e amassado. Bem diferente dos produtos entregues pela Amazon no passado.

Lectura indispensable para esta época.

Produit conforme

Nietzsche's precursor in many ways. So far ahead of his time. Beautiful and interesting work.

This book changed my life. It categorically changed my values and eased my anxiety. This book is amazing in that it details an ethical frame work based upon moral relativism. It is crazy how mainstream his ideas are today even though Spinoza doesn't get credited for them. This book is heavy on God which may be off putting. The whole of Spinoza's argument for God is based on the ontological argument so his whole system can be rejected if you deny the ontological argument but what is fascinating about Spinoza is what still stands when you excise God from his Ethics. Anyway... I digress, I could wax poetically for days about this man. As for the translation itself this is my personal favorite. Current translations use the term 'pleasure' instead of 'joy', which this book uses. The use of the term pleasure really takes the punch out of some of the prose... for example, the title on the cover is "Joy is one's passage to a greater perfection." ... it doesn't have the same ring when you use 'pleasure' which is why this book is awesome. Be warned though... it is a very hard read... I would recommend skimming over the actual propositions and focus on his annotations and appendices at the end of the chapters... thats where the best stuff is.