We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more
Request an Inspection Copy
Cover

Spinoza's Ethics

A Guide

Michael LeBuffe

08 February 2023

ISBN: 9780197629314

312 pages
Paperback
210x140mm

In Stock

Price: £19.99

Share:

Description

In this short guide to a masterpiece of early modern philosophy, Michael LeBuffe leads readers through Spinoza's Ethics, focusing on one manageable part of the work's dense argument at a time and pausing frequently to raise questions for further research. This guide is designed to help readers to develop and defend their own sophisticated interpretations of Spinoza.

  • A balanced guide designed to help readers arrive at their own interpretations of Spinoza's masterpiece
  • Includes detailed discussion of each part of the Ethics
  • Provides research questions in each section help readers recognize and consider central issues of the text

About the Author(s)

Michael LeBuffe, Professor and Baier Chair of Early Modern Philosophy, University of Otago

Michael LeBuffe is Professor and Baier Chair of Early Modern Philosophy at the University of Otago. He has broad interests in early modern philosophy and specializes in Spinoza. His books include From Bondage to Freedom: Spinoza on Human Excellence and Spinoza on Reason.

Table of Contents

    Acknowledgements
     Preface: How to Use this Guide
    Abbreviations
    Introduction
    I. Working with the Geometrical Method
    II. Spinoza's Life
    III. Sources for the Ethics
    Chapter 1: One Infinite Substance
    1.1 The Definitions and Axioms of Ethics 1
    1.2 Existence: 1p1-1p15
    1.3 The One and the Many: 1p16-1p36
    1.4 Teleology and the Origin of Common Prejudice: Ethics 1 Appendix
    Chapter 2: The Idea of the Human Body
    2.1 From Infinite Substance to Thought and Extension: 2d1-2p9c
    2.2 The Human Mind and the Human Body: 2p10-2p18s
    2.3 Inadequate Knowledge of the Self and the External World: 2p19-2p36
    2.4 Genuine Knowledge: 2p37-2p49s
    Chapter 3: Desire, Joy, and Sadness
    3.1 Human Activity and Passivity: 3 Preface-3p3
    3.2 Striving to persevere in being and the Desire for Joy: 3p4-3p10
    3.3 Passion, Desire, and Objects of Imagination: 3p11-3p50
    3.4 Causation and Human Affects: 3p51-3p59
    Chapter 4: Bondage to Passion
    4.1 Formal accounts of good and evil: 4 Preface-4p8
    4.2 Knowledge is power: 4p8-4p28
    4.3 Human society: 4p29-4p37
    4.4 Goods and evils: 4p38-4p73
    Chapter 5: The Power of the Intellect
    5.1 Descartes, Passions of the Soul, and the Pineal Gland: 5 Preface
    5.2 Understanding and Imagination against the Passions: 5a1-5p10s
    5.3 Self-Knowledge and the Love toward God: 5p11-5p20s
    5.4 Eternity, Blessedness, and Salvation: 5p21-5p42s

Related Titles