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  1. The Limits of Spinoza's Perfectionism.Leonardo Moauro - 2024 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 11 (35):947-976.
    Spinoza is often described as an ethical perfectionist—one who accepts an account of the good centered on the development of our natural capacities. Perfectionists typically accept a perfectionist theory of value, in which the properties of good and evil are grounded in a normative property of perfection. Yet I argue that Spinoza rejects a perfectionist theory of value because he believes it conflicts with the doctrine of necessitarianism. This leads him to conclude that attributions of perfection in ethical contexts must (...)
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  2. Schopenhauer on Spinoza: Animals, Jews, and Evil.Yitzhak Y. Melamed - 2023 - In David Bather Woods & Timothy Stoll (eds.), The Schopenhauerian mind. New York, NY: Routledge.
    Schopenhauer’s philosophical engagement with Spinoza spreads over many fronts, and an adequate – not to say, complete – treatment of the topic, should cover at least the following issues: Schopenhauer’s critique (and misunderstanding) of Spinoza’s pivotal concept of causa sui; Schopenhauer’s claim that Spinoza confused reason [ratio] and cause [causa]; the relationship between Schopenhauer’s and Spinoza’s monisms; the eminent role that both philosophers assign to causality; and finally, Schopenhauer’s view of the world as a macroanthropos, as opposed to Spinoza’s attack (...)
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  3. Spinoza’s Strong Eudaimonism.Brandon Smith - 2023 - Journal of Modern Philosophy 5 (3):1-21.
    In this paper I defend an eudaimonistic reading of Spinoza’s ethical philosophy. Eudaimonism refers to the mainstream ethical tradition of the ancient Greeks, which considers happiness a naturalistic, stable, and exclusively intrinsic good. Within this tradition, we can also draw a distinction between weak eudaimonists and strong eudaimonists. Weak eudaimonists do not ground their ethical conceptions of happiness in complete theories of metaphysics, epistemology, or psychology. Strong eudaimonists, conversely, build their conceptions of happiness around an overall philosophical system that extends (...)
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  4. Deleuze on Spinoza and Rousseau: Ethics and Materialism.Thomas Detcheverry - 2022 - Deleuze and Guattari Studies 16 (2):159-189.
    In the lecture of December 16, 1980, Deleuze proposes a cross-reading of Spinoza and Rousseau. First, Deleuze reinterprets Rousseau’s morality in the light of Spinoza’s critique of ‘morality’ based on the opposition of good and evil; second, and reciprocally, he rereads Spinoza’s practical and ethical philosophy from a concept extracted from Rousseau’s work: that of the ‘materialism of the wise’. According to Deleuze, this ‘practical materialism’ evoked by Rousseau, consisting of both ‘determinism’ and ‘sensualism’, has a Spinozist inspiration, insofar as (...)
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  5. Ethics of Joy: Spinoza on the Empowered Life, by Andrew Youpa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. 208.Sandra Leonie Field - 2022 - Mind 131 (523):995-1005.
    The central argument of Youpa's book is that Spinoza's moral philosophy offers a distinctive variety of moral realism, grounded in a standard of human nature. In this review essay, I provide an overview of Youpa's remarkably lucid interpretation of Spinoza. However, I also critique Youpa's conception of the 'free man' as an objective standard of perfection which (a) applies equally to all humans, and (b) which has objective moral force in the sense that it ought to be approached. I sketch (...)
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  6. The value of the world and of oneself: philosophical optimism and pessimism from Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Camus.Mor Segev - 2022 - New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press.
    This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human nonexistence would have been preferable over our existence. Schopenhauer criticizes the optimism (...)
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  7. Spinoza’s metaethical synthesis of nature and affect.Brandon Smith - 2022 - Ithaque 30:89-112.
    In this essay, I evaluate four central metaethical readings of Spinoza’s moral philosophy in the literature: unqualified anti-realism, qualified anti-realism, qualified realism, and unqualified realism. More specifically, I discuss the metaethical readings of Charles Jarrett (unqualified anti-realism), Matthew Kisner (qualified anti-realism), Jon Miller (qualified realism), and Andrew Youpa (unqualified realism), each of which captures core aspects of this debate. My conclusions are that (1) Spinoza is neither an unqualified anti-realist nor an unqualified realist and (2) Spinoza’s ethical framework represents a (...)
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  8. Spinoza and Some of His Medieval Predecessors on the Summum Bonum.Yitzhak Melamed - 2021 - In Yehuda Halper (ed.), The Pursuit of Happiness in Medieval Jewish and Islamic Thought. pp. 377-392.
    In the current paper I rely on two outstanding studies. The one, by Warren Zev Harvey, draws a portrait of Spinoza as Maimonidean, stressing the continuity between Maimonides and Spinoza on the issue of morality and the highest good. The other is the magisterial study by Steven Shmuel Harvey of the reception of the Nicomachean Ethics in medieval Jewish philosophy, from its being subject to almost complete indifference in the period before Maimonides until it became “the best known and most (...)
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  9. (2 other versions)Spinoza on good and bad.Steven Nadler - 2019 - In Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.), Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
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  10. (2 other versions)Spinoza on good and bad.Steven Nadler - 2019 - In Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.), Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
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  11. Spinoza on Reason, Passions, and the Supreme Good.Andrea Sangiacomo - 2019 - Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
    Andrea Sangiacomo offers a new understanding of Spinoza's moral philosophy, how his views significantly evolved over time, and how he himself struggled during his career to develop a theory that could speak to human beings as they actually are--imperfect, passionate, and often not very rational.
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  12. (1 other version)Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy.Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.) - 2019 - London: Bloomsbury Academic.
    Contributors: Steven Barbone, Laurent Bove, Edwin Curley, Valérie Debuiche, Michael Della Rocca, Simon B. Duffy, Daniel Garber, Pascale Gillot, Céline Hervet, Jonathan Israel, Chantal Jaquet, Mogens Lærke, Jacqueline Lagrée, Martin Lin, Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Pierre-François Moreau, Steven Nadler, Knox Peden, Alison Peterman, Charles Ramond, Michael A. Rosenthal, Pascal Sévérac, Hasana Sharp, Jack Stetter, Ariel Suhamy, Lorenzo Vinciguerra.
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  13. (1 other version)The knowledge of good and bad.Lorenzo Vinciguerra - 2019 - In Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.), Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  14. The Ethics of Joy: Spinoza on the Empowered Life.Andrew Youpa - 2019 - New York: Oup Usa.
    Andrew Youpa offers an original reading of Spinoza's moral philosophy, arguing it is fundamentally an ethics of joy. Unlike approaches to moral philosophy that center on praiseworthiness or blameworthiness, Youpa maintains that Spinoza's moral philosophy is about how to live lovingly and joyously. His reading expands to examinations of the centrality of education and friendship to Spinoza's moral framework, his theory of emotions, and the metaphysical foundation of his moral philosophy.
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  15. Towards an Object-Oriented Ethics: Schopenhauer, Spinoza, and the Physics of Objective Evil.Drew M. Dalton - 2018 - Open Philosophy 1 (1):59-78.
    Objects are inert, passive, devoid of will, and as such bear no intrinsic value or moral worth. This claim is supported by the argument that to be considered a moral agent one must have a conscious will and be sufficiently free to act in accordance with that will. Since material objects, it is assumed, have no active will nor freedom, they should not be considered moral agents nor bearers of intrinsic ethical vale. Thus, the apparent “moral neutrality” of objects rests (...)
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  16. Moral realism in Spinoza's Ethics.Colin Marshall - 2017 - In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (ed.), Cambridge Critical Guide to Spinoza’s Ethics. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 248-65.
    I argue that Spinoza is more of a moral realist than an anti-realist. More specifically, I argue that Spinoza is more of a realist than Kant, and that his view has deep similarities with Plato's metaethics. Along the way, I identify three approaches to the moral realism/anti-realism distinction. Classifying Spinoza as a moral realist brings out a number of important complexities that have been overlooked by many of Spinoza's readers and by many contemporary metaethicists.
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  17. Spinoza’s genealogical critique of his contemporaries’ axiology.Benedict Rumbold - 2017 - Intellectual History Review 27 (4):543-560.
    Among Spinoza’s principal projects in the Ethics is his effort to “remove” certain metaethical prejudices from the minds of his readers, to “expose” them, as he has similar misconceptions about other matters, by submitting them to the “scrutiny of reason”. In this article, I consider the argumentative strategy Spinoza uses here – and its intellectual history – in depth. I argue that Spinoza’s method is best characterised as a genealogical analysis. As I recount, by Spinoza’s time of writing, these kinds (...)
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  18. Oreste et Néron: Spinoza, Freud et le mal.Isabelle Sgambato-Ledoux - 2017 - Paris: Classiques Garnier.
    How can we think about evil if we exclude free will? Spinoza and Freud define freedom in terms of the understanding of mechanisms arising in a person by necessity. Spinoza's letters to Blijenbergh, analyzed here through a Freudian lens, allow us to formulate a response to this problem.
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  19. Is Spinoza’s theory of Finite Mind Coherent? – Death, Affectivity and Epistemology in the Ethics.Oliver Istvan Toth - 2017 - The Concept of Affectivity in Early Modern Philosophy.
    In this paper I examine the question whether Spinoza can account for the necessity of death. I argue that he cannot because within his ethical intellectualist system the subject cannot understand the cause of her death, since by understanding it renders it harmless. Then, I argue that Spinoza could not solve this difficulties because of deeper commitments of his system. At the end I draw a historical parallel to the problem from medieval philosophy.
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  20. Mark Sacks Lecture 2013: Spinoza on Goodness and Beauty and the Prophet and the Artist.Moira Gatens - 2015 - European Journal of Philosophy 23 (1):1-16.
    Some critics have claimed that Spinoza's philosophy has nothing to offer aesthetics. I argue that within his conception of an ars vivendi one can discern a nascent theory of art. I bring the figure of the prophet in relation to that of the artist and, alongside a consideration of Spinoza's views on goodness and beauty, show that the special talent of the artist should be understood in terms of the entirely natural expression of the conatus.
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  21. Essays on Spinoza's Ethical Theory.Benedict E. Rumbold - 2015 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 23 (5):1000-1003.
    Review of Essays on Spinoza's Ethical Theory edited by MJ Kisner and A Youpa.
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  22. A third version of constructivism: rethinking Spinoza’s metaethics.Kevin Timpe - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (10):2565-2574.
    In this essay, I claim that certain passages in Book IV of Benedict de Spinoza’s Ethics suggest a novel version of what is known as metaethical constructivism. The constructivist interpretation emerges in the course of attempting to resolve a tension between Spinoza’s apparent ethical egoism and some remarks he makes about the efficacy of collaborating with the right partners when attempting to promote our individual self-interest. Though Spinoza maintains that individuals necessarily aim to promote their self-interest, I argue that Spinoza (...)
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  23. Spinoza's theories of value.Andrew Youpa - 2010 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 18 (2):209 – 229.
    According to a widely accepted reading of the "Ethics," Spinoza subscribes to a desire-satisfaction theory of value. A desire-satisfaction theory says that what has value is the satisfaction of one’s desires and whatever leads to the satisfaction of one’s desires. In this paper I argue that this standard reading is incorrect, and I show that in Spinoza’s view the foundation of what is truly valuable is the perfection of a person’s essence, not the satisfaction of a person’s desires.
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  24. Spinoza's Theory of the Good.Andrew Youpa - 2009 - In Olli Koistinen (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza's Ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
    In this paper I argue that, for Spinoza, the power to produce effects through one's nature alone is the key constituent of the good life. Indeed, to exist in the strict sense is to be the causal source of effects. On this reading, a temporally long life that is entirely governed by causal factors external to one's essence is not a genuine existence.
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  25. Spinoza’s Normative Ethics.Michael LeBuffe - 2007 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 37 (3):371-391.
    Spinoza presents his ethics using a variety of terminologies. Propositions that are, or at least might be taken for, normative include only very few explicit guidelines for action. I will take this claim from Vp10s to be one such guideline:Vp10s: So that we may always have this rule of reason ready when it is needed, we should think and meditate often about common human wrongs and how and in what way they may best be driven away by nobility.
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  26. Spinoza's summum bonum.Michael Lebuffe - 2005 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 86 (2):243–266.
    : As Spinoza presents it, the knowledge of God is knowledge, primarily, of oneself and, secondarily, of other things. Without this know‐ledge, a mind may not consciously desire to persevere in being. That is why Spinoza claims that the knowledge of God is the most useful thing to the mind at IVP28. He claims that the knowledge of God is the highest good, however, not because it is instrumental to perseverance, but because it is also the best among those goods (...)
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  27. (2 other versions)Spinoza's Axiology.Jon Miller - 2005 - In Daniel Garber & Steven Nadler (eds.), Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy Volume 2. Oxford University Press.
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  28. (1 other version)Spinoza on the Relativity of Good and Evil.Charles Jarrett - 2002 - In Olli Koistinen & John Ivan Biro (eds.), Spinoza: Metaphysical Themes. New York: Oup Usa. pp. 159--181.
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  29. Nervura do real: pt. 1, Imanência. pt. 2, Imanência, notas, bibliografia e índices.Marilena de Souza Chauí - 1999 - [São Paulo, Brazil]: Companhia Das Letras.
    A tradição judaico-cristã crê na existência de um ser supremo transcendente que, por um ato de vontade, cria o mundo e os seres humanos, dando a estes o livre-arbítrio para escolher entre o bem e o mal. QUando Espinosa (1632-77) afirma: "Deus, ou seja, a Natureza", ele subverte essa crença. DEmonstra que o ser absoluto é imanente ao universo e que todas as coisas são efeitos necessários de sua ação.SÃo inúmeras as interpretações da obra de Espinosa; alguns consideram até que, (...)
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  30. Spinoza’s Theory of Perfection and Goodness.John Campbell - 1980 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 18 (3):259-274.
  31. (1 other version)Spinoza and Ethical Subjectivism.Ruth Mattern - 1978 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 4:59-82.
    A puzzling feature of Spinoza's discussion of the good is that it takes place on two different levels whose compatibility seems uncertain. He advances a view of the nature of ascriptions of “good” to certain individual things, but he also devotes a large part of the Ethics to recommending a particular conception of the good person. The first theory appears to undermine the force of the second. For Spinoza's view of ascriptions of “good” to any objects apparently leads in the (...)
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  32. Spinoza on the knowledge of good and evil.William K. Frankena - 1977 - Philosophia 7 (1):15-44.
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  33. Spinoza's emotivism.Dennis A. Rohatyn - 1976 - In James Benjamin Wilbur (ed.), Spinoza's metaphysics: essays in critical appreciation. Assen: Van Gorcum.
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  34. Moral Judgment in Benedict de Spinoza.Lee Collins Rice - 1967 - Dissertation, Saint Louis University
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  35. Spinoza's Doctrine of Privation.Raphael Demos - 1933 - Philosophy 8 (30):155 - 166.
    According to Spinoza, the categories of good and bad—in fact, all categories of value—are relative. The only valid category is that of substance; value as distinct from reality has no genuine meaning. Spinoza’s attack on valuation is based on two sets of arguments, one rationalistic and scientific, the other religious and theological. We will consider each in turn.
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  36. Plotinus and Spinoza: A Comparative Analysis of Their Notion of Evil.Latif Kadri - manuscript
    The problem of evil has always haunted theologians and philosophers. Throughout the course of this paper I will peruse the concepts of evil put forth by Spinoza and Plotinus. These two notions of evil have many similarities, yet there are some vital distinctions between the two. Plotinus and Spinoza both had rather unique views on the concept of evil that seemed to be ahead of their time in many ways. These two philosophers’ outlook on the notion of evil departs from (...)
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