Spinoza's book of life : freedom and redemption in the ethics / Steven B. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Steven B., 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.

Spinoza, Benedictus de.

Free will and determinism--History--17th century.

Free will and determinism.

Ethics, Modern--17th century.

Ethics, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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. Smith in this intriguing book. 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.Two aspects of Smith's book distinguish it from other studies. It treats the famous "geometrical method" of the Ethics as a form of moral rhetoric, a model for the construction of individuality. And it presents the Ethics as a companion to Spinoza's major work of political philosophy, the Theologico-Political Treatise, each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Affirming Spinoza's centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book will be of value to students of political theory, philosophy, and intellectual history.

Contents:

Thinking about the ethics

Thinking about God

Thinking about thinking

Thinking about desire

Thinking about politics

Thinking about love

The authority of reason.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-215) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786611721657

9781281721655

1281721654

9780300128499

0300128495

OCLC:

1023999377