The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) by Don Garrett (PDF)

Description

Benedict (Baruch) de Spinoza has been one of the most inspiring and influential philosophers of the modern era, yet also one of the most difficult and most frequently misunderstood. Spinoza sought to unify mind and body, science and religion, and to derive an ethics of reason, virtue, and freedom ‘in geometrical order’ from a monistic metaphysics. Of all the philosophical systems of the seventeenth century it is his that speaks most deeply to the twentieth century. The essays in this volume provide a clear and systematic exegesis of Spinoza’s thought informed by the most recent scholarship. They cover his metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, psychology, ethics, political theory, theology, and scriptural interpretation, as well as his life and influence on later thinkers.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I used this book to see what the famous excommunicated Benedict had to say about religious fundamentalism. Ben’s friends were on him to convert to the Bible but Ben was smart enough to quote from it (Old and New Testament). Ben had his theology tested by reason which is still risqué to this day. There are scholarly essays so be prepared

⭐Almost one-third of the book consists of the article by della Rocca on Spinoza’s metaphysical pyschology, full of jargon, and FAR more difficult to undestand than anything Spinoza wrote; the article on Spinoza’s reception was about peripheral matters and quite incomplete; and while Klever’s article on Spinoza’s life and works does explain the latest scholarship, there are far too many “it is not impossible that…” which suggests a second-rate scholar. Curley’s article is the only one from which I learned something, and was excellent with original perspectives.

⭐This fine volume in the Cambridge “Companions” series is an essential aid to readers of Baruch Spinoza. Edited by Don Garrett, it includes ten essays on Spinoza’s life and thought by ten world-class Spinoza scholars (including the late Alan Donagan, to whom the book is dedicated).Topics covered are various and pretty much exhaustive. W.N.A. Klever opens the volume with a summary of Spinoza’s life and works; the closing piece by Pierre-Francois Moreau traces the influence of “Spinozism” from Spinoza’s death through the twentieth century. The eight essays in between discuss, in turn, Spinoza’s metaphysics (Jonathan Bennett), his theory of knowledge (Margaret D. Wilson), his natural science and methodology (Alan Gabbey), his metaphysical psychology (Michael Della Rocca), his ethical theory (Don Garrett), his political theory (Edwin Curley, in a piece strikingly entitled “Kissinger, Spinoza, and Genghis Khan,” in which he argues that Spinoza was essentially Machiavellian), his theology (Alan Donagan), and his influence on Biblical scholarship (Richard H. Popkin).The resulting collection is a clear and thorough examination of every essential aspect of Spinoza’s thought. My recommendation to new readers of Spinoza: begin with Roger Scruton’s fine little book in the “Past Masters” series, and then go on to this one.

⭐Excellent

⭐I found this book to be very interesting, though certainly not very simple to read. Chapters are written by different authors and differ in literary style and accessibility. Surprisingly, Spinoza’s metaphysics by J. Bennett was one of most accessible chapters. Chapters on natural science and theology were some of the least accessible.I also found a chapter on metaphysical physiology to be extremely interesting, and certainly more detailed than in many other books about Spinoza.Along with other reviewers i would recommend to read this book after reading a smaller introduction to Spinoza’s work. “A very short introduction” series can be a good place to start.

⭐Very good

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