Overzicht van de invloed van klassieke auteurs op het werk van de Nederlandse wijsgeer.

Le système spinoziste comprend une infinité d'expressions de la Nature et offre aux modes finis que nous sommes la possibilité d'appréhender la puissance d'agir sous un angle physique, mental, ou encore psychophysique, selon qu'elle est ...

CHAPTER 1 Introduction HEIDI M. RAVVEN AND LENN E. GOODMAN The attitudes of Jewish thinkers toward Spinoza have defined a fault line between traditionalist ...

Spinoza parle toujours de Maïmonide avec une extrême sévérité : sa propre certitude que la Bible ne contient aucune vérité d'ordre philosophique, mais seulement un contenu moral à destination des ignorants, se révèle incompatible avec l'œuvre d'un prédécesseur soucieux, au contraire, de montrer que, pour celui qui sait lire, la Bible a bel et bien un contenu philosophique. Pourtant, les questions de Maïmonide - à défaut de ses réponses - scandent l'œuvre théologico-politique de Spinoza. Ce livre cherche donc à dessiner (...) la ligne théorique complexe qui, à la fois, unit et sépare Spinoza et Maïmonide. Il explique pourquoi le premier dut tenir à l'écart le second, en durcissant et en simplifiant à l'extrême ses positions afin de mieux se démarquer de lui. Si Maïmonide fut, en effet, une source indéniable de réflexion pour Spinoza, ce dernier refusa toujours, sans la moindre concession, sa tentative de " sauver " la Bible aux yeux des philosophes. Les questions examinées ici sont partagées, de façon conflictuelle, par les deux philosophes : la lecture de la Bible, les idées de Dieu et de sa Providence, la prophétie et la différence entre loi divine et loi humaine, les régimes politiques qui permettent de vivre en paix et enfin le désir de salut. Malgré sa détermination à exclure Maïmonide de son propre chemin d'analyse des liens entre théologie et philosophie, pour cause d'inutilité et de danger, l'œuvre de Spinoza trouve un éclairage important dans sa confrontation à celle de Maïmonide anxieux, pour son compte, de répondre aux perplexes de son temps, déchirés entre une sagesse issue de la Bible et une sagesse issue de la philosophie grecque. L'histoire de cette tension entre les deux sagesses caractérise la culture occidentale, ce livre en explore un moment décisif. (shrink)

Seventeenth-century Holland was a culture divided. Orthodox Calvinists, loyal to both scholastic philosophy and the quasi-monarchical House of Orange, saw their world turned upside down with the sudden death of Prince William II and no heir to take his place. The Republicans seized this opportunity to create a decentralized government favourable to Holland's trading interests and committed to religious and philosophical tolerance. The now ruling regent class, freshly trained in the new philosophy of Descartes, used it as a weapon to (...) fight against monarchical tendencies and theological orthodoxy. And so began a great pamphlet debate about Cartesianism and its political and religious consequences. This book begins by examining key Radical Cartesian pamphlets and Spinoza's role in a Radical Cartesian circle in Amsterdam, two topics rarely discussed in the English literature. Next, it examines Spinoza's political writings and argues that they should not be seen as political innovations so much as systemizations of the Radical Cartesian ideas already circulating in his time. It goes on to reconstruct the development of Spinoza's thinking about the human mind, truth, error, and falsity and to explain how this development, particularly the innovation of parallelism - the lynchpin of his system - allowed Spinoza to provide philosophical foundations for Radical Cartesian political theory. It concludes that, contrary to general opinion, Spinoza's rejection of Cartesian epistemology involves much more than the metaphysical problems of dualism - it involves, ironically, Spinoza's attempt to make coherent a political theory bearing Descartes's name. (shrink)

Stuart Hampshire, one of the most eminent British philosophers of the twentieth century, will be perhaps best remembered for his work on the seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza, all of which is gathered now in this volume. Among the great thinkers of modern times, only Spinoza created a complete system of philosophy that rivals Plato's, with crucial contributions to every major philosophical topic. Hampshire's classic 1951 book Spinoza remains the best introduction to this thinker, and it is reprinted here. But what gives (...) particular interest to this new volume is the first publication of Hampshire's last work 'Spinoza and Spinozism', an extended presentation of a Spinozist philosophical worldview. Hampshire's influential 1962 essay 'Spinoza and the Idea of Freedom' is also included. Spinoza and Spinozism is thus an ideal companion to the study and interpretation of this great philosopher. (shrink)

Jonathan Bennett engages with the thought of six great thinkers of the early modern period: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. While not neglecting the historical setting of each, his chief focus is on the words they wrote. What problem is being tackled? How exactly is the solution meant to work? Does it succeed? If not, why not? What can be learned from its success or failure? For newcomers to the early modern scene, this clearly written work is an (...) excellent introduction to it. Those already in the know can learn how to argue with the great philosophers of the past, treating them as colleagues, antagonists, students, teachers. In this second volume, Bennett focuses on the work of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. (shrink)

Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was published anonymously in 1670 and immediately provoked huge debate. Its main goal was to claim that the freedom of philosophizing can be allowed in a free republic and that it cannot be abolished without also destroying the peace and piety of that republic. Spinoza criticizes the traditional claims of revelation and offers a social contract theory in which he praises democracy as the most natural form of government. This Critical Guide presents essays by well-known scholars in (...) the field and covers a broad range of topics, including the political theory and the metaphysics of the work, religious toleration, the reception of the text by other early modern philosophers and the relation of the text to Jewish thought. It offers valuable perspectives on this important and influential work. (shrink)

Spinoza's Ethics is one of the most remarkable, important, and difficult books in the history of philosophy: a treatise simultaneously on metaphysics, knowledge, philosophical psychology, moral philosophy, and political philosophy. It presents, in Spinoza's famous 'geometric method', his radical views on God, Nature, the human being, and happiness. In this wide-ranging 2006 introduction to the work, Steven Nadler explains the doctrines and arguments of the Ethics, and shows why Spinoza's endlessly fascinating ideas may have been so troubling to his contemporaries, (...) as well as why they are still highly relevant today. He also examines the philosophical background to Spinoza's thought and the dialogues in which Spinoza was engaged - with his contemporaries, with ancient thinkers, and with his Jewish rationalist forebears. His book is written for the student reader but will also be of interest to specialists in early modern philosophy. (shrink)

Context -- A Jew in Amsterdam -- Conflicts and communities -- Christian philosophy? -- A Bible gallery -- Religion and politics in the TTP -- Miracles, meaning, and moderation -- Christian pluralism -- Ethics reconsidered -- Providence, obedience, and love -- Spinoza and Christianity.

"A collection of essays on the metaphysical, political, theological, ethical and psychological writings of Spinoza.

Why would the work of the 17th century philosopher Benedict de Spinoza concern us today? How can Spinoza shed any light on contemporary thought? In this intriguing book, Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd show us that in spite of or rather because of Spinoza's apparent strangeness, his philosophy can be a rich resource for cultural self-understanding in the present. _Collective Imaginings_ draws on recent re-assessments of the philosophy of Spinoza to develop new ways of conceptualising issues of freedom and difference. (...) This ground-breaking study will be invaluable reading to anyone wishing to gain a fresh perspective on Spinoza's thought. (shrink)

Dans cet ouvrage, nous nous proposons de parcourir le Tractatus Theologico-Politicus de Spinoza afin de donner au lecteur philosophe tous les éléments susceptibles de l'aider à saisir la place des citations bibliques dans cette œuvre, ainsi que ses conséquences sur la pensée philosophique de l'auteur. D'autre part nous voulons montrer au lecteur hébraïsant l'utilisation que Spinoza a faite des sources bibliques au sens large, mais traditionnel. Nous utiliserons également la grammaire de l'Hébreu que Spinoza a laissé inachevée : Compendium Grammatices (...) Linguoe Hebroeoe, Abrégé de Grammaire Hébraïque, publié dans les Opera Posthuma, 1671. Nous tenterons une approche de son œuvre en dehors des luttes et des passions que son seul nom inspire, lui qui sa vie durant s'écartera par tous les moyens des combats de son époque afin de pouvoir accéder à la connaissance vraie qui seule apporte le bonheur. (shrink)