The philosophy of Spinoza is increasingly recognised as holding a position of crucial importance and influence in early modern thought, and in previous years has been the focus of a rich and growing body of scholarship. In this volume of essays, leading experts in the field offer penetrating analyses of his views about God, necessity, imagination, the mind, knowledge, history, society, and politics. The essays treat questions of perennial importance in Spinoza scholarship but also constitute critical examinations of his worldview. (...) Scholars of modern philosophy will value this volume as a collection of some of the very best work done on Spinoza's philosophy. (shrink)

The three great historical philosophers most often associated with rationalism - Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz - opened up ingenious and breathtaking vistas upon the world. Yet their works are so difficult that readers often find themselves stymied. "Understanding Rationalism" offers a guide for anyone approaching these thinkers for the first time.With clear explanations, elegant examples and insightful summaries, "Understanding Rationalism" unlocks their intricate metaphysical systems, which are by turns surprising, compelling and sometimes bizarre. It also lays out their controversial stances (...) on moral, political and religious problems. The study is framed by an opening discussion of the broad themes and attitudes common to these three philosophers and a closing analysis of the legacy they left for the rest of philosophy. (shrink)

This collection presents some of the most vital and original recent writings on Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, the three greatest rationalists of the early modern period. Their work offered brilliant and distinct integrations of science, morals, metaphysics, and religion, which today remain at the center of philosophical discussion. The essays written especially for this volume explore how these three philosophical systems treated matter, substance, human freedom, natural necessity, knowledge, mind, and consciousness. The contributors include some of the most prominent writers (...) in the field, including Jonathan Bennett, Michael Della Rocca, Jan A. Cover, Catherine Wilson, Stephen Voss, Edwin Curley, Don Garrett, and Margaret D. Wilson. (shrink)

: Spinoza claims that God is extended and corporeal, but he resists identifying God with the extended, corporeal world. How then are we to understand the relation of God to the physical world? This essay first critically examines interpretations offered by Schmaltz and Woolhouse which claim that Spinoza's God is not actually extended, but a nonextended essence of extension. It is then suggested that Spinoza's God can be understood as something akin to (a modified version of) scholastic prime matter. On (...) this view, Spinoza's God is actually extended, but cannot be identified with the corporeal world, which is changeable and variegated in a way that prime matter is not. (shrink)

The advent of modern science brought deep challenges to traditional religion. Miracles, prophecy, immortal souls, absolute morality - all of these fundamental notions were challenged by the increasingly analytical and skeptical approach of modern scientists. One philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, proposed a new theology, rooted in a close analysis of the Bible, which could fit this new science and provide a sound basis for a social order. "Spinoza's Radical Theology" explains the mechanics and meaning of Spinoza's ideas and how they can (...) inform the questions with which we still struggle today. (shrink)

Dr. Johnson famously observed that in lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. This observation applies with equal force to publishers and their advertisements for books. According to the blurb, the present volume “offers essential critical material for both novice and advanced scholars of early modern philosophy.” In fact, it would be a remarkably sophisticated novice who could derive much benefit from this anthology of essays on seventeenth-century Rationalism; not merely do the authors engage with difficult issues of interpretation (...) but they often presuppose a detailed knowledge of the various positions in the exegetical debates. Nonetheless, the volume does live up to the second part of its billing: it offers a great deal for the specialist to get his or her teeth into. Despite the demands they make upon the reader, the contributions are of an almost uniformly high quality. The volume has its origins in a NEH Summer Seminar conducted by Jonathan Bennett, who himself contributes a characteristically elegant and lucid essay on Descartes’s theory of space. Bennett may take a justifiable pride in the accomplishments of the participants in his seminar. (shrink)

Any companion will take on different features over the course of a long trip, though very often it is one’s own moods that are to blame if things go badly. Similarly, whether the companion Tom Stern has assembled will find favor will depend on the moods of the one being companioned.If one is interested in gaining more thorough knowledge of Nietzsche’s own context, there are plenty of instructive discussions here. Andreas Urs Sommer, in “What Nietzsche Did and Did Not Read,” (...) points out that for all of Nietzsche’s admonishments that we should learn from observation, “reading is in fact the foundation of his thought”. Sommer demonstrates that... (shrink)